Amazon is seeking to transfer about US$8 billion worth of advanced Nvidia chips to investors through a new financing vehicle, as the cloud giant explores an asset-light approach to funding its growing artificial intelligence infrastructure, the Financial Times reported.
Amazon has held talks with investors in recent weeks to gauge interest in a deal involving thousands of Nvidia Grace Blackwell chips being installed at its US data centres, according to people familiar with the matter cited by the FT.
Under the proposed structure, the chips would be transferred to a special-purpose vehicle (SPV), which would raise financing from outside investors through debt issuance.
Amazon would then lease the chips back from the vehicle, allowing it to unlock capital from the expensive semiconductor assets while continuing to use them for its data centre operations.
The company is also planning to offer investors an equity stake of up to 10% in the vehicle, the FT reported.
The chips involved in the potential transaction were bought or leased by Amazon and are installed across more than a dozen data centres in five US states, including Nevada and Virginia.
The proposed transaction would allow Amazon to reduce the amount of capital tied up in its AI infrastructure while retaining access to the chips needed to operate its cloud services.
Amazon and Nvidia did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment outside regular business hours
Reuters
