Amazon explores $8B deal to shift Nvidia chips off its balance sheet

Amazon is exploring a deal that would move about $8 billion worth of Nvidia’s top-end chips off its balance sheet. The chips would keep running in Amazon’s data centers. They just wouldn’t belong to Amazon anymore. How the structure would work The plan centers on a special-purpose vehicle, or SPV. Amazon would transfer ownership of approximately $8 billion in Nvidia Grace Blackwell AI chips to the SPV. It would then lease the hardware back, so its operations would carry on as before. The hardware is not sitting in a warehouse waiting for a buyer. The chips are already installed in more than a dozen US data centers across at least five states, including Nevada and Virginia. Outside investors would supply the money for the SPV. Most of that funding would reportedly come through debt. Investors could also receive a 10% equity stake in the venture, giving them some upside beyond interest payments. None of this is final. The talks are exploratory, no terms have been settled, and neither Amazon nor Nvidia has commented publicly on the discussions. The Financial Times reported the talks first, with Bloomberg and Reuters following. Why Amazon would want this Amazon has been buying a lot of...