How AMD Is Mimicking Nvidia's Circular Funding Deals -- Barrons.com

Dow Jones06-10 21:26

By Adam Clark

Advanced Micro Devices is aiming to catch up with chip making peer Nvidia. Its latest tactic is to invest in a cloud-computing provider which only uses AMD hardware -- a move which echoes some of Nvidia's own investments.

AMD has led a $350 million funding round for TensorWave, a Las Vegas-based cloud-computing start-up, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. TensorWave only uses AMD-designed chips and other equipment and is now valued at $1.55 billion.

The move echoes Nvidia's backing for CoreWeave and Nebius, so-called neoclouds which provide additional cloud-computing capacity for artificial intelligence.

Nvidia's investments in companies that purchase or rent its hardware have raised eyebrows among AI skeptics who characterize the deals as circular financing, where money invested by Nvidia flows back to the chip company via hardware purchases.

"Nvidia's partnership and investment with CoreWeave is...circular, or perhaps more of a web," wrote Morningstar strategist Brian Colello in a research note.

Nvidia and CoreWeave have objected to the characterization, arguing that Nvidia's investment represents a very small part of the neocloud's overall funding. Meanwhile, Barron's has argued it could turn out to be a smart use of surplus cash, meaning Nvidia isn't overly reliant on a few big chip customers and locking in demand for future generations of its AI processors.

AMD looks to have decided it better follow in Nvidia's footsteps, although it is at a considerably smaller scale. TensorWave has signed leases for 500 megawatts of data-center capacity in total, aiming for two gigawatts in the coming year. By comparison, CoreWeave has more than one gigawatt of power already active and is aiming for more than five gigawatts by 2030.

AMD wasn't getting much of an immediate boost from its neocloud investment plan. Shares were down 3.4% in premarket trading as the chip-stock selloff rumbled.

"Anyone scarred by the dot-com bubble bursting is keenly aware of the risks of a circular deal in which firms pass funds back and forth to prop up a business...[W]e don't think this risk is present today, and we're skeptical this will occur in the long term, since AI demand is both real and booming, but it bears watching," wrote Morningstar's Colello.

Write to Adam Clark at adam.clark@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

 

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June 10, 2026 09:26 ET (13:26 GMT)

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