Nvidia(US:NVDA) Sou Hu Cai Jing·2025-10-09 09:39Core Insights - A significant financing plan and a super data center are reshaping the global AI competition landscape, intensifying the race for computing power [2] Financing Details - Elon Musk's AI startup xAI is expected to complete a new financing round totaling up to $20 billion (approximately 142.9 billion RMB) [3] - If successful, xAI's valuation could exceed $120 billion, making it the second-largest single financing round in startup history after OpenAI's $40 billion round earlier this year [4] - The financing structure includes approximately $7.5 billion in equity financing and $12.5 billion in debt financing, with NVIDIA's GPU chips serving as collateral for the debt [5] NVIDIA's Role - NVIDIA will participate as a deep equity investor in this financing round, with a maximum investment of $2 billion (approximately 14.3 billion RMB), marking a new phase of collaboration between the chip giant and the AI unicorn [5] - The financing model links chip procurement directly to the financing, allowing xAI to convert a large capital expenditure (CAPEX) into an operational expense (OPEX) through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) [5][6] Colossus 2 Data Center - The financing is closely tied to xAI's ambitious Colossus 2 super data center project, which is set to launch on March 7, 2025, in Memphis, involving the acquisition of a 1 million square foot warehouse and adjacent land [7][8] - Colossus 2 is expected to initially house at least 550,000 NVIDIA chips, with plans to expand to 1 million chips, potentially requiring hundreds of billions in investment [8][9] Competitive Landscape - xAI's monthly expenditure is approximately $1 billion, primarily for infrastructure needed for training and reasoning large models, highlighting the urgency for financing [9] - Compared to its competitors like OpenAI, Meta, and Anthropic, xAI is still in a catch-up phase but is positioned in the first tier of AI infrastructure development [9][10] Industry Trends - The AI infrastructure investment trend is reflected in other major players, with OpenAI announcing a multi-billion dollar partnership with AMD for AI data center development [10] - Meta plans to invest $72 billion in AI infrastructure by 2025, indicating a broader industry commitment to AI capabilities [11] - The exponential growth in computing demand is attributed to advancements in model capabilities, with industry leaders acknowledging the significant resource consumption required for next-generation AI models [12]