Nvidia weighed last-minute OpenRouter bid before Stripe's $8B deal
According to The Information, Nvidia learned in July that AI model marketplace OpenRouter was being pursued for acquisition and told its leadership it was prepared to make a generous offer, but needed more time to evaluate a deal before making a formal bid. OpenRouter's founders did not want to wait, and Stripe ultimately prevailed with an $8 billion bid; Databricks and Stripe had already been in talks with the startup, and Nvidia's interest had not previously been reported. Over the following two months Nvidia signed more than $140 billion worth of deals, including a $105 billion credit guarantee, and held nearly $100 billion in equity investments plus $25 billion in future commitments as of late July.
It shows how Nvidia is using large-scale investments and acquisitions to entrench itself across the AI ecosystem, while model-aggregation platforms become prized points of entry.