Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says demand from AI cloud providers is strong but the capital to build their capacity is short. Chip stocks fell sharply the same day, and Nvidia is working with financial institutions on a financing plan.
Jensen Huang told an audience at GTC Berlin on October 22, 2026 that appetite for specialized AI cloud providers keeps climbing, while the capital needed to build them has not kept pace. According to Crypto Briefing, Huang described demand for these "neoclouds" as "Off the charts." In his framing, the problem is working capital: neoclouds must pay for chips, facilities and power before customers pay them.
Chip stocks drop on the day Huang spoke
The same day, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell approximately 6.7%, its largest single-day decline since June. Every one of its 30 component stocks closed lower. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 2.6% during the session.
Nvidia itself fell about 4.5%, according to The Motley Fool.
Nvidia's plan to make chips financeable
Huang wants lenders to treat Nvidia's chips as collateral for AI infrastructure loans. The Motley Fool's Matt Frankel compares the idea to a car loan.
Nvidia has teamed up with major financial institutions to mobilize more than $500 billion in third-party capital for AI infrastructure projects. Huang argues the chips hold their value because they are productive, durable assets, and he pointed out that rental prices for Nvidia's older H100 chips increased between Oct. 2025 and March 2026.
However, many in the industry are more skeptical, and computing hardware is typically depreciated over just three or four years, the Motley Fool notes.
CoreWeave shows signs of strain
The pressure is visible among Nvidia's partners. Nvidia is heavily invested in companies like CoreWeave, Nebius, and IREN, which rent Nvidia-powered computing capacity to AI developers. Rising borrowing costs and a sell-off in AI-related bonds have put additional strain on them.
CoreWeave is showing signs of stress, with a sharp increase in its credit-default-swap spread. Huang, for his part, expects the capital gap to close over time, though he stopped short of giving a date.
Sources: Crypto Briefing, The Motley Fool, Crypto Briefing
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