❯ GPU cloud provider GMI Cloud raises $668 million with Nvidia participating

Equity plus debtAccording to The Information, GPU cloud provider GMI Cloud raised $668 million, including $223 million in equity led by ARCHIV with participation from Nvidia, and a $445 million credit facility led by Taiwan’s CTBC Bank.

Renting compute in the US and AsiaGMI Cloud is a neocloud that rents GPU compute to AI companies and provides model inference services across the US and Asia-Pacific. It raised an $82 million Series A in 2024. Earlier reports said it is building an AI data center in Taoyuan, Taiwan, with Nvidia as its main GPU supplier and committed to leasing any unused capacity for up to six years.

Nvidia backstops its own customersThe neocloud model is to borrow money to buy GPUs and rent them out; the biggest risk is failing to rent the capacity and being unable to repay. By both investing and promising to lease back idle compute, Nvidia lowers the risk for lending banks. Such arrangements help Nvidia sell more chips, but also tie it more tightly to its customers’ financial risks.

▪ SIGNALNvidia increasingly acts like the central bank of this compute build-out, selling chips, investing in buyers and backstopping them, so the chain’s risk ultimately flows back to it.