Nvidia eyes cloud rental play with Lepton AI buyout
Nvidia is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire server rental startup Lepton AI for several hundred million dollars. The two-year-old startup rents out compute powered by Nvidia’s own chips, putting the chip giant on track to compete directly in the server rental market. Why it matters: Nvidia is no longer just selling picks and shovels—it is steadily moving into infrastructure operations.
The world's biggest chipmaker might be about to rent out its own gear.
Buying into the cloud rental game
Nvidia is reportedly nearing a deal to acquire Lepton AI, according to a report from The Information. Citing unnamed sources, the outlet says the transaction is valued at several hundred million dollars. Nvidia declined to comment.
Lepton AI was founded two years ago and focuses on renting out servers powered by Nvidia’s own AI hardware. The startup raised an $11 million seed round in May 2023 from CRV and Fusion Fund.
The cloud rental space has seen intense interest lately. Another major rival, Together AI, has already raised over $500 million in venture funding despite launching only about a year earlier than Lepton.
The talks also follow reports from last week that Nvidia acquired synthetic data startup Gretel.
Why it matters
We think Nvidia is clearly signaling that selling bare silicon is no longer the endgame. By bringing a dedicated server rental platform under its own roof, the company looks ready to deliver compute straight to builders without relying entirely on third-party cloud providers.
For AI developers, having direct rental channels from Nvidia could simplify infrastructure access and software tuning. But for independent cloud startups whose entire business model relies on renting out Nvidia GPUs, having their own supplier step into the ring is about as uncomfortable as it gets.
Sources (1)
- techcrunch.com(opens in a new tab)Originaltechcrunch.com