Good morning. Big tech has been making headlines this week. For starters, OpenAI is raising even more money and shaking up its management structure to become more corporate as it digs in for what is shaping up to be a battle for AI dominance. Then there is Nvidia, whose CEO reminded businesses that his company is the only game in town when it comes to advanced AI chips—including the new Blackwell line, which is a top priority for many firms.
And speaking of Nvidia, the chip maker and professional services company Accenture announced an expanded partnership on Wednesday. Accenture will create what it calls an “Nvidia Business Group,” which will help clients lay the foundation for AI use with its AI Refinery platform built on the Nvidia AI stack. Nvidia Business Group will consist of 30,000 employees focused on assisting clients scale enterprise generative AI adoption.
I asked Dan Ives, managing director and senior equity research analyst at Wedbush Securities, what this move by Nvidia signifies. “We believe enterprise adoption of AI is one of the most important drivers of the market over the next few years,” Ives told me on Thursday. And $1 trillion of AI CapEx is on the horizon in the next three years with “the Godfather of AI Jensen and Nvidia torch bearers of this AI Revolution,” according to Ives.
During Nvidia’s earnings call in August, CFO Colette Kress said that the “Enterprise AI wave has started.” Enterprises drove sequential revenue growth for the company in the quarter that ended July 28, and Nvidia is working the most with Fortune 100 companies on AI initiatives, Kress said.
The fundraising news for OpenAI, the company that launched ChatGPT, came on Wednesday in the form of $6.6 billion in new funding, bringing the startup’s valuation to $157 billion. The company did not disclose the investors. But venture capital firm Thrive Capital had invested in and led this latest round, Fortune reported. Microsoft and Nvidia were also among the investors as well, Wedbush Securities analysts wrote in a Thursday note.
As a result of the funding round, OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar told employees on Wednesday that the company could offer a tender event to provide an option for liquidity, The Information reported. Friar, former CEO of Nextdoor, joined OpenAI in June. She also previously served as CFO of the tech company Square and oversaw its IPO.
The funding drive is happening as OpenAI overhauls its board structure to be a for-profit corporation accountable to shareholders, and as it contends with ongoing C-suite exits, including that of CTO, Mira Murati.
Wedbush analysts said in a Thursday note to investors that OpenAI has been the “linchpin” to AI success and adoption. “We also believe OpenAI now has a much more functional corporate structure which is a positive for the broader tech industry,” the analysts wrote.
Many CFOs are determining the business case for generative AI to help drive continuous change and create value. But, the rapid pace of technological change may be speeding up that process. And, the enterprise level is the beginning of a broader AI Revolution and demand adoption into 2025 and beyond, Wedbush analysts predict.
Have a good weekend.
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
The following sections of CFO Daily were curated by Greg McKenna
