Reuters withdraws Nvidia–OpenAI payment story after timing error

On its face this is a minor wire correction, but it touches a sensitive question in the AGI race: how capital and compute flow between Nvidia and frontier labs like OpenAI. The now‑withdrawn line that Nvidia had not “given OpenAI a penny” was widely read as a signal about cash, discounts, or equity that might underpin their relationship. Pulling the story because of an interview‑timing error removes a datapoint that markets were trying to parse. ([reuters.com](https://www.reuters.com/technology/nvidia-has-not-given-openai-a-penny-yet-ceo-huang-tells-fox-business-2025-12-18/))

The episode is a reminder that information asymmetry is still extreme around strategic AI partnerships. Nvidia sits at the chokepoint of GPU supply; even small shifts in how it treats key customers can tilt competitive dynamics among model labs. When a single sentence from Huang can move expectations about OpenAI’s cost base or bargaining power, the accuracy and context of that reporting really matters.

For serious AGI watchers, the key takeaway is not any specific claim about payments, but the opacity itself. As long as hardware and model deals remain largely private, outsiders will have to triangulate from imperfect signals—earnings hints, leaked contracts, or in this case, quickly corrected news alerts.