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Investing.com -- Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI is working on a $20 billion lease-to-own arrangement for Nvidia chips as part of its strategy to build Colossus 2, its second major data center in Memphis, according to a report by The Information on Thursday.
xAI is reportedly taking a different approach compared to its competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic, who rely heavily on cloud partnerships for computing power, and wants to directly own the majority of its data centers.
Unable to fully fund the plans, the company is said to be leaning on Valor Equity Partners, a longtime Musk backer, to raise the necessary capital. Valor is creating a special purpose vehicle comprising $7.5 billion in equity and $12.5 billion in debt to purchase Nvidia chips that will be leased to xAI, with an option for xAI to buy the chips when the lease ends.
Nvidia itself will contribute up to $2 billion in equity to the special purpose vehicle, according to the report.
The arrangement shifts much of the financial risk to Valor, whose chief investment officer Antonio Gracias serves on the board of Musk’s SpaceX and recently worked at the Social Security Administration as part of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative.