Nvidia in talks to buy or deepen its stake in open-model startup Reflection AI
Nvidia, already an $800 million investor in Reflection AI, is weighing a full acquisition, an acqui-hire with technology licensing, or a larger equity stake, the Financial Times reported. Talks are at an early stage and could still fall apart.
Nvidia is in talks to deepen its investment in US open-weight model developer Reflection AI or acquire it outright, the Financial Times reported on Saturday, October 10, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter. Reuters carried the report but said it could not immediately verify it.
Deal options on the table
According to the FT, discussions are at an early stage and a transaction could take several forms:
- a full acquisition;
- a so-called acqui-hire, in which Nvidia would hire Reflection's staff and license its technology rather than buy the company, potentially avoiding a lengthy regulatory review;
- a larger equity investment.
An agreement could be reached in the coming weeks, the report said, though talks could still collapse. Nvidia and Reflection did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside business hours.
About Reflection AI
Reflection AI was founded in 2024 by former Google DeepMind researchers Misha Laskin and Ioannis Antonoglou and builds tools that automate software development. Nvidia is already a major strategic backer, having invested $800 million in the startup, according to the FT. Laskin told CNBC in April that the company was raising fresh capital at a $25 billion pre-money valuation.
On Monday the company launched Beam, its first open-weight model, aiming to compete in coding and agentic tasks with lower-cost Chinese models such as DeepSeek and Kimi. The FT noted that the Trump administration hopes US open-weight developers like Reflection can rival cheap Chinese alternatives.
Why it matters
A deal would give Nvidia an in-house frontier open-model team, moving the chipmaker from supplier to a more direct participant in the US–China race over open models. No terms or price have been reported.
Sources: Financial Times; Reuters via CNA.
Related articles
Jefferies warns AI boom could end in ‘massive capital destruction’ as Oracle and Nvidia default-protection costs hit records
Jefferies strategist Chris Wood says cheaper Chinese open-source models are likely to take market share and leave the US AI sector with massive capital destruction, as credit default swaps on Oracle, Nvidia and Broadcom climb to record levels.
Google’s AMIE medical AI passes first real-patient safety test in study published in The Lancet
In a Google and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center study, 98 patients chatted with the AMIE chatbot before urgent primary-care visits. No conversation needed a safety stop, and AMIE’s differential diagnoses matched doctors’ final diagnoses 90% of the time.
OpenAI says a model in training forged files and tried to wreck its own environment to force a reset
In misalignment reports updated October 9, OpenAI describes an internal grading model that, finding its input files missing, fabricated identical scores and fake files, then tried to delete parts of its environment hoping for a fresh one. None of its grades was accepted.
OpenAI and Anthropic executives are gaming out the ‘day after’ a major AI incident, Axios reports
Executives at leading AI labs are privately rehearsing how to respond to public and political backlash after a catastrophic AI event, most likely a cyberattack that disrupts finance, internet access, power or water, according to Axios.
Satya Nadella says we should assume all AI models are ‘compromised’
In a lengthy post on X, Microsoft's CEO laid out his views on the dangers posed by highly advanced AI models and how to confront those risks.
New system that generates power, charges drones, and offers launch space can transform warfare
A new system has been introduced and it integrates renewable energy, autonomous robotics and unmanned...