❯ Nvidia plans to invest in inference chip rival d-Matrix, bringing a competitor’s chips into its own racks

Three people with knowledgeNvidia plans to invest in AI inference chip company d-Matrix, The Information reported on October 10, citing three people with knowledge of the deal. According to tbreak, the size and timing were not disclosed and neither company has confirmed it. d-Matrix’s chips are used for inference, the stage where a model responds to user requests, and compete with Nvidia’s products.

A rival's chip in an Nvidia rackThe two companies already work together. d-Matrix said on September 10 that it will connect its next-generation Raptor processors to Nvidia’s platform through NVLink Fusion. NVLink Fusion is an interconnect technology Nvidia introduced in May 2025 that lets other companies’ accelerators plug into Nvidia’s racks and networking, so data centers can mix processor types. Marvell reached a similar partnership with Nvidia in March and received an investment from it.

Valuation and the wider portfoliod-Matrix’s last round was a $275 million Series C in November 2025 at a $2 billion valuation; The Information reported in July that it was seeking new financing at $5 billion. A separate report from The Information said Nvidia is also scouting deals in robotics, self-driving cars and on-device models, and held nearly $100 billion in equity investments as of late July.

Customers switch chips, the business staysThe Information noted that customers are seeking alternatives to Nvidia’s GPUs. If those alternative chips run inside Nvidia’s racks and networking, the order for the overall infrastructure stays with Nvidia even when customers buy fewer GPUs. A challenger like d-Matrix gets into data centers faster by joining an existing ecosystem, at the cost of being tied more closely to its largest rival.

▮ SIGNALNvidia’s answer to alternative chips is to absorb rivals into its own system; what it is defending now is the standard for the whole rack.