Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang used a Mad Money interview with CNBC's Jim Cramer to directly address growing concern on Wall Street about "circular" AI financing, telling Cramer that Nvidia's expanding financial support for companies across the AI ecosystem carries acceptable risk. Huang said "the risk is low," pointing to real, contracted demand for Nvidia's chips rather than financial engineering as the underlying driver of the company's investments.
The comments came the same week Nvidia disclosed a roughly $6 billion licensing deal and $1 billion investment in AI coding startup Poolside, adding to a lengthening list of arrangements in which the chipmaker extends capital to companies that, directly or indirectly, buy its hardware. Critics have argued that this kind of vendor financing can make demand look stronger than it would be on a pure cash basis, particularly if AI spending growth were to slow.
Huang's defense leaned heavily on Nvidia's own results: the company's most recent quarter showed data-center revenue growing 116% year over year, with management describing the business as constrained by supply rather than customer interest. Cramer, for his part, has said Huang and his fellow AI executives have effectively "created a whole new asset class" on Wall Street.
