Nvidia Pays $6 Billion to License Poolside AI Model-Development Software

The Newcomer post is based on a Poolside letter to investors, according to the report.

Nvidia will also invest $1 billion in Poolside at a $12 billion pre-money valuation, and Poolside’s three co-founders will remain with the company. The letter said the deal is not an acquisition or an acquihire (a deal primarily involving talent), per the report.

The report said that Nvidia has become a major developer of open-source models. It also said that Poolside said in its letter to investors that on its own, Poolside would have needed more access to more Nvidia hardware than was possible if it were to continue competing in the development of open-source models.

Neither Nvidia nor Poolside immediately replied to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

In another, separate move, Nvidia said in December 2025 that it acquired talent and tech Groq, a maker of custom-built inference chips. In that deal, Nvidia entered into a non-exclusive licensing agreement for Groq’s inference technology and hired Groq’s founder, president and other members of the Groq team. Groq continued to operate as an independent company.

An Nvidia spokesperson told PYMNTS at the time: “We haven’t acquired Groq. We’ve taken a non-exclusive license to Groq’s IP and have hired engineering talent from Groq’s team to join us in our mission to provide world-leading accelerate computing technology.”