Nvidia’s (NVDA) Investment in OpenAI Highlights Circular Financing Concerns

Andvari Associates, an investment management firm, released its first-quarter 2025 investor letter. The letter can be downloaded here . Andvari's portfolio has performed strongly in the quarter, highlighted by Constellation Software's 19.9% revenue growth and its plans to spend on acquisitions in 2026. The company is also focusing on AI tools to enhance productivity and customer relationships. However, the AI sector is experiencing extreme hype, leading to a growing disconnect between valuations and future cash flows. Predictions suggest the AI investment phase may decline in 1-3 years, despite current high demand for AI infrastructure, which is expected to attract significant competition. Concerns about overbuilding and risky financial behaviors, like Oracle's downgraded credit rating amid a $90-$95 billion AI cloud investment, reflect potential pitfalls. Andvari has minimized exposure to this sector, aiming to protect and grow assets through disciplined investments in stable industries despite recent underperformance during the AI boom. Also, check the fund's top five holdings to see its best picks in 2026.

In its second-quarter 2026 investor letter, Andvari Associates highlighted NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA ). NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is a leading data center-scale AI infrastructure company operating through Compute & Networking and Graphics segments. On August 28, 2026, NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) stock closed at $217.55 per share. The one-month return of NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) was 5.28%, and its shares gained 24.90% over the past 52 weeks. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) has a market capitalization of $5.25 trillion.

Andvari Associates stated the following regarding NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) in its Q2 2026 investor letter:

"Another reason why I am increasingly cautious here is I've begun to see more examples of circular financing among the companies involved with the AI investment boom. For example, when NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) invested in OpenAI in late 2025, it was reported most of the money would be used to lease Nvidia chips. Also, some companies like Nvidia and Anthropic have invested directly into special purpose vehicles (SPVs), which in turn use that money to buy hardware from those exact same hardware makers. Then there are AI companies like Anthropic who have begun to use massive SPVs, backed by private equity firms, to borrow billions to buy chips and servers. The AI company then leases the chips from the SPV and thus the debt can stay on its own balance sheet. I've also read that some Nvidia customers are using Nvidia chips as collateral for loans to buy even more chips. This is the same type of behavior that eventually got many telecom and tech companies into huge trouble during the dot com bubble of the 1990s."