Highlights:

  • Previously, Lambda raised approximately USD 112 million from investors. Its most recent round, a Series B investment disclosed in March, included Google LLC’s Gradient Ventures fund and over a half-dozen other investors.
  • The report that Nvidia could invest in the startup comes a few months after the company backed CoreWeave Inc., a competitor that operates a similar GPU-powered cloud platform.

According to reports, Nvidia Corp. might invest in Lambda Inc., a startup that runs a public cloud powered by the chipmaker’s graphics processors. Based in San Francisco, Lambda also sells developer laptops and on-premises data center hardware.

Recently, The Information reported that Nvidia may invest in the venture, citing sources familiar with the situation. According to reports, Nvidia and Lambda are near to concluding the funding round. According to estimates, the venture would receive up to USD 300 million at a post-money valuation of USD 1 billion.

Previously, Lambda raised approximately USD 112 million from investors. Its most recent round, a Series B investment disclosed in March, included Google LLC’s Gradient Ventures fund and over a half-dozen other investors. The company stated then that the funds would be used to improve its cloud platform.

The Lambda platform allows users to train and infer artificial intelligence models using Nvidia graphics cards. Among the GPUs available from the firm is Nvidia’s flagship H100 data center chip. Because of its 80 billion transistors, the H100 can run large language models 30 times faster than its predecessor.

The Lambda public cloud is not its only service. Additionally, the startup offers colocation services that enable businesses to house their servers in its data centers. If a customer-owned system malfunctions, Lambda engineers can assist in its repair.

The startup is also present in the market for on-premises hardware. It supplies the Echelon series of AI-optimized appliances, which consumers can order with the H100 or other Nvidia chips. In addition to storage and network equipment, Echelon systems include preinstalled machine learning software.

Completing Lambda’s product lineup are two personal computers for AI developers. The first system includes four Nvidia graphics processors, up to 61 terabytes of storage, one terabyte of memory, and an Intel Corp. or Advanced Micro Devices Inc. CPU. Lambda also offers a GPU-powered laptop co-designed with a prominent PC manufacturer, Razer Inc.

The report saying Nvidia might invest in the startup comes a few months after the company backed CoreWeave Inc., a competitor that operates a similar GPU-powered cloud platform. CoreWeave’s platform, like Lambda’s, is predominantly designed for companies creating AI models. The latter company has raised over USD 570 million from Nvidia and other investors to date.

The Information reported last week that CoreWeave is scheduled to reach USD 600 million in annual revenue. This is a significant increase from the estimated USD 25 million in sales the company generated in the previous year.