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Public story · 2026-08-17 · high
Nvidia alone backed 59 rounds this year, up from 53 in 2025, and its $122B OpenAI bet makes up most of that money.
Why now: Crunchbase published the full tally on August 17, 2026.
Semiconductor companies have put more than $250 billion into startup funding this year, per Crunchbase News.
Almost none of that reached application software companies, per the report. Chip investors often tie GPU access to their checks, so the money also decides who gets compute.
Those totals span 16 rounds of $1 billion or more and more than 60 rounds above $100 million, per Crunchbase.
Nvidia did most of the work. It joined 59 known rounds this year, up from 53 across all of 2025, and led or co-led at least 11 of them. The $122 billion OpenAI round alone makes up about 95% of the total value chipmakers put into startups this year.
AMD joined 19 financings and Samsung at least 17, per Crunchbase. In July, Nvidia also put $5 billion into Safe Superintelligence, separate from the OpenAI round.
Each link below shares sources, entities, or timing with this story.
NVIDIA invested in OpenAI / Shared entities / Same source domain / Earlier coverage
Linked by a graph relationship (NVIDIA invested in OpenAI); both cover Crunchbase, July, Nvidia, Safe Superintelligence; reported by the same outlet (news.crunchbase.com).
NVIDIA invested in OpenAI / Shared entities / Earlier coverage
Linked by a graph relationship (NVIDIA invested in OpenAI); both cover AMD, July, Nvidia, OpenAI; earlier AMD coverage from 2026-07-29.
NVIDIA partners with Cisco / Shared entities / Earlier coverage
Linked by a graph relationship (NVIDIA partners with Cisco); both cover AMD, July, NVIDIA, OpenAI; earlier AMD coverage from 2026-07-27.
NVIDIA invested in OpenAI / Shared entities / Earlier coverage / Tension
Linked by a graph relationship (NVIDIA invested in OpenAI); both cover AMD, Nvidia, OpenAI; earlier AMD coverage from 2026-07-25.
Linked by a graph relationship (NVIDIA invested in OpenAI); both cover AMD, Nvidia, OpenAI; earlier AMD coverage from 2026-07-24.
NVIDIA invested in OpenAI / Shared entities / Earlier coverage
Linked by a graph relationship (NVIDIA invested in OpenAI); both cover AMD, NVIDIA, OpenAI; earlier AMD coverage from 2026-08-10.
Linked by a graph relationship (NVIDIA invested in OpenAI); both cover July, Nvidia, OpenAI; earlier July coverage from 2026-08-05.
Linked by a graph relationship (NVIDIA invested in OpenAI); both cover July, Nvidia, OpenAI; earlier July coverage from 2026-08-05.