The money that Nvidia gives to these companies hardly make a dent in Nvidia's total revenue.

It's just to make sure the next OpenAI uses Nvidia stack.

None of this refutes the circular nature of it all, though.

	▲	formerly_proven 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Circular financing is when the revenue you get back is a fraction of what you put in, essentially. If you put in 1$ to get 10$ back in (future) revenue, that's not circular financing.

throwaway_new_1 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Yes so advertising and vendor locking. Which brings money back to them. Hence circular.

When people accuse AI companies of circular financing, they meant it as a way to juice up their financial reports.

This is not the case. This is just having influence.

I don't think this locks the startup into Nvidia stack. I don't think this is advertising either. It's just influence.

Circular is not the word I use to describe this business tactic.

	▲	gchamonlive 5 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Yes but how many such isolated cases are there? There is a real possibility that a lot of the AI bubble is fuelled not by dealing with itself but by pulverizing influence all over the market.
	▲	ericd 5 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		It also makes everyone else’s success theirs. Personally I’m really happy to effectively be an LP in the Nvidia VC fund.

grey-area 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

So you’re arguing it is circular but it’s only a little bit of money compared to Nvidia revenue so it doesn’t count?

	▲	andsoitis 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> So you’re arguing it is circular but it’s only a little bit of money compared to Nvidia revenue so it doesn’t count? Circular financing isn't inherently bad. The question is whether it finances productive economic activity OR whether it manufactures the appearance of economic activity.
	▲	aurareturn 4 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		It seems so for those who lack critical thinking and think everything is a conspiracy theory to keep the AI bubble alive.