Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is seeking to transfer about $8 billion of advanced Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) chips to an investor-funded vehicle and lease them back, the Financial Times reported on October 2, citing people familiar with the matter. The proposed arrangement would help finance expensive AI hardware while allowing Amazon to continue using it.
The company has held talks with investors in recent weeks about moving thousands of Nvidia Grace Blackwell chips into a special-purpose vehicle, according to the report. That entity would raise debt from outside investors, with Amazon also planning to offer an equity stake of up to 10% in the vehicle.
The chips involved were bought or leased by Amazon and are installed in more than a dozen US data centers across five states, including Nevada and Virginia. The reported structure concerns ownership and financing of computing equipment already being deployed, with Amazon retaining access through lease payments.
The financing push comes as AI investment weighs on cash generation. Amazon’s quarterly results showed a $7.6 billion free-cash-flow outflow over the 12 months ended June 30, versus an $18.2 billion inflow a year earlier. The company attributed the decline primarily to higher property and equipment purchases tied to AI.
No completed transaction was announced in the report. Amazon and Nvidia had not immediately responded to Reuters for comment. The proposal highlights the financing demands behind the AI infrastructure expansion: raising capital for equipment while preserving access to the computing capacity it provides.
