Nvidia and OpenAI: Is the Tech Boom Eating Itself

I’ll sum up immediately: I don’t know if the AI boom is a bubble (and neither does anyone else), but Nvidia’s announced $100B investment in OpenAI doesn’t tell us anything one way or the other.

I was greeted the other day by a torrent of posts on BlueSky suggesting that tech is finally feeding itself by vomiting into its own mouth in a dangerous trend toward vendor financing, and an economy of rich people passing each other the same bag of money:

I’m writing what follows in a media environment that ascribes complicity to calls for circumspection and critical thinking, so I’m going to say this for clarity: I’m not cheerleading for Nvidia, OpenAI, the tech industry, or AI. I also can’t claim to be a disinterested party on either side of the debate. AI destroyed the last bridge I had back to the tech world in the event my career in agriculture doesn’t work out… but on the other hand, I have retirement accounts invested in index funds that track the NASDAQ which, at this point, is an AI index.

With that said, the only thing unusual happening in the tech sector is the U.S. government purchasing Golden Share stakes in established tech companies…