Nvidia is spending big to build a top open-source AI model and fight off fast-rising Chinese rivals, a move that threatens both Chinese labs and its own closest US partners.

• Nvidia struck a $6 billion deal to license the technology of AI startup Poolside and hire most of its engineers.
• The goal is to build one of the world's strongest open-source AI models to compete with China's DeepSeek and Kimi.
• Nvidia is also investing $1 billion in Poolside at a $12 billion valuation, while the founders stay out and keep working on their own research.
• Over 100 Poolside staff will join Nvidia's Nemotron open-source model project.
• The move puts Nvidia in direct competition with OpenAI and Anthropic, its biggest customers, because open models are cheaper to run and easier to customize.

Outlook: Expect Nvidia to push harder into open models over the coming months as US labs face pressure to stop ceding that ground to China.