Nvidia Spent $70 Billion on Corporate Deals to Fuel Chip Demand

Nvidia Corp. sharply increased its spending on the shares of partners and customers in the last fiscal year, using more than $70 billion of its cash as it seeks to retain dominance in the artificial intelligence chip arena.

The company bought $40.6 billion worth of marketable securities and $17.5 billion in nonmarketable or private securities in the period, according to its latest cash flow statements. That’s up from $26.6 billion and $1.5 billion, respectively, from the previous year, or more than doubling overall.

Nvidia has drawn criticism for circular deals in which it invests in customers like OpenAI and CoreWeave ...