Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang spoke to media members after the company’s “Japan AI Ecosystem” reception on Thursday, July 16, 2026, in Tokyo, Japan.
Kiyoshi Ota | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Hello, my name is Hui Jie from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.
After three years of big tech companies investing heavily in AI, Nvidia is looking to disrupt the industry.
The semiconductor giant has partnered with an all-star cast of six U.S. asset managers to help with the next phase of building AI, essentially tapping into their wallets.
Nvidia also announced its first open source model named Nemotron 3.5 Lightning. This is the first model since CEO Jensen Huang joined most of his technology colleagues in asking the U.S. government for support for an open model.
What you need to know today
In the AI gold rush, Nvidia is already selling picks and shovels. Now it wants Wall Street to help finance the mine.
Nvidia has announced partnerships with six of Wall Street’s biggest names and said it is ready to raise $500 billion (and potentially more) to build and expand new AI fabs as chipmakers and hyperscalers race to meet endless demand.
In other words, fundamental changes are occurring. AI infrastructure has become a new asset class.
However, this path is not without risks.
One key premise is key to CEO Jensen Huang’s plan. That means Nvidia’s graphics processing units retain their value over time and behave more like traditional hard assets than fast-depreciating consumer electronics.
Ben Emmons, founder of FedWatch Advisors, told CNBC that the single biggest threat to Nvidia’s funding model comes from China. China is rapidly increasing its domestic computing capacity and may choose to flood the market with low-cost silicon in a price war.
If Chinese production causes hardware prices to plummet, the collateral backing hundreds of billions of dollars in private loans could wear down much faster than the terms of the debt itself, exposing investors to losses, Emmons said.
However, NVIDIA is finding ways to continue growing. The company announced its first open source AI model since Huang championed open source models in AI in July.
Nvidia says the model, known as Nemotron 3.5 Lightning, is “lightweight” and can run on a single graphics processing unit on a PC.
For Nvidia, open source AI will benefit chip sales. This is because the models still need to run on GPUs and the lower price can lead to higher utilization than proprietary models such as OpenAI and Anthropic.
still stuck in the strait
Apart from technology, the on-again, off-again nature of the Iran deal continues to influence geopolitics.
The United States and Iran are close to “some kind of deal” over the Strait of Hormuz, a senior Pakistani official reportedly said on Tuesday, offering a new ray of hope for a deal even as the belligerents appear to be increasing their negotiating stance.
The oil market did not appear to support this development, with US West Texas Intermediate futures rising 1.3% to close at $83.20 per barrel. International benchmark Brent crude rose 1.36% to settle at $88.91 per barrel.
Prices rose more than 6% this week as hopes for a deal to increase shipping traffic through Hormuz faded.
Asian stock markets were mixed in early trade, but U.S. futures rose as investors awaited Wednesday’s key inflation data.
For now, the Hormuz Accord has an imperfect lighting rhythm at night, turning on again and then turning off again, but never bright enough to tell if the oil market is safe.
