Nvidia stock rose 2% after CEO Jensen Huang said AI computing demand has surged in the last six months

Nvidia stock surged by 2% on Wednesday after CEO Jensen Huang said the demand for AI computing has grown at an explosive pace this year.

Speaking live on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Jensen explained, “This year, particularly the last six months, demand of computing has gone up substantially.” The stock move lifted the Nasdaq Composite, reflecting investor excitement around the company’s role in powering artificial intelligence.

Jensen said the appetite for AI chips is being fueled by the rapid jump in model capabilities.“The AIs are smart enough that everybody wants to use it.We now have two exponentials happening at the same time.”

He stressed that demand for Blackwell, Nvidia’s most advanced GPU, is “really, really high.” He added, “I think we’re at the beginning of a new buildout, beginning of a new industrial revolution.”

Nvidia invests in OpenAI data centers and tackles energy challenge

Jensen confirmed last month that Nvidia would invest $100 billion in OpenAI’s plans to build data centers with its chips.

As Cryptopolitan reported, OpenAI’s target is 10 gigawatts of capacity, a level equal to the annual electricity consumption of about 8 million U.S. homes, or New York City’s peak summer power demand in 2024.

The size of that buildout has raised doubts about whether companies can secure enough electricity. Jensen said the U.S. is only “not far ahead” of China, and warned, “China is way ahead on energy.”

He insisted the AI industry must develop new ways to generate power rather than straining existing grids. “We should invest in just about every possible way of generating energy,” Jensen said. He called for data centers to use natural gas first and possibly nuclear power in the future. “Data center self-generated power could move a lot faster than putting it on the grid and we have to do that,” he added.

Pressed by Becky Quick on financing, Jensen said each gigawatt of AI infrastructure requires $50 to $60 billion in land, shells, chips, and networking. He said OpenAI would raise that money through revenue growth, equity, or debt, and Nvidia has the option to co-invest.

“It’s not something we have to do, but it’s something that they’re giving us the opportunity to do, and I would love to do,” he explained. “One of the things we did, we invested in OpenAI early on, my only regret is that we didn’t invest more.”

Huang contrasts Nvidia with AMD and outlines future bets

Asked about rival AMD’s deal with OpenAI, Jensen said, “I saw the deal.It’s imaginative, it’s unique and surprising, considering they were so excited about their next generation product.I’m surprised that they would give away 10% of the company before they even built it.”

He acknowledged AMD’s CEO Lisa Su is his distant cousin, calling her “terrific,” but argued Nvidia’s advantage lies in building the full AI infrastructure. He explained that one chip cannot deliver the required results. “Supercomputers are the most complex computers the world’s ever made, and we optimize across all of that, design new chips every year, and every year is multiple times faster than the last generation.”

Bloomberg reported Nvidia is also connected to a $2 billion financing arrangement for xAI, Elon Musk’s company. Jensen confirmed involvement, calling it an investment.

“The only regret I have about xAI is I didn’t give him more money,” he said. He contrasted today’s AI boom with the dot-com bubble, pointing out hyperscalers already represent $2.5 trillion in business and about $500 billion in capital expenditures. Nvidia’s own AI infrastructure operations, he said, are already worth hundreds of billions and still in early stages of a multi-trillion-dollar expansion.

Jensen pointed to a new generation of AI firms including OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI. He said they are now profitable as models deliver reasoning, research, and tool use that people will pay for.

The Nvidia CEO highlighted Cursor, an AI coding assistant, saying, “Every one of our engineers, 100% is now assisted by AI coders, and our productivity has gone up incredibly.” Nvidia’s 40,000 engineers use it daily. He stressed this marks a change because AI can now use tools on its own. “For the very first time, we have technology that can actually use tools by itself,” he said, pointing to Gemini agents that can browse, book travel, and shop.

Michael Santoli asked about artificial general intelligence. Jensen replied, “We are going to have incredibly profitable and incredibly useful AIs, long before AGI.” He said specialized intelligence will dominate enterprise, while general intelligence will be more valuable for consumers.

On capital allocation, Jensen said Nvidia is always looking for startups. He mentioned CoreWeave as one he wished he had invested more in. He said investments are being made in energy, chips, models, and applications, and he listed work from OpenEvidence, Figure, Wayve, and Waabi. “These new companies are going to be future giants, and it would be great to be part of them, support their growth. And be part of that journey,” he said.

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