NVDA is the best stock to buy; strategic expansion beyond asset-light model supports this view.
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We have big news for Nvidia stock investors, as the company confirms a $13 billion acquisition of the open- weighted AI platform "HuggingFace". So let's take a look at the details of this acquisition, the history of Nvidia's capital allocation strategy, and what it could mean for its stock investors.
On Thursday, Nvidia confirmed its plans to acquire the open-weighted AI platform " Huggingface".
Under the deal, Nvidia will pay $12.93 billion for the platform. According to Nvidia, more than 18 million developers, researchers, and creators use the " HuggingFace" platform to share more than 3 million models , and more than 200,000 companies use it to discover and deploy artificial intelligence.
This move highlights how Nvidia has strongly supported open- weighted AI models. In its most recent quarterly conference call with Wall Street analysts, Nvidia's management team told investors that there is room for both open- weighted and closed-weighted AI models to flourish.
They believe that both types will be successful.
In a call following the announcement, Nvidia's general manager of enterprise computing, Justin Boitano, said the company believes that a healthy ecosystem of closed and open models leads to a world where we will continue to train and operate these models at scale .
So, Nvidia wants more participants, more winners, and more options for its success. They want to have alternatives and options. They want to diversify their bets, and not rely on a single model or company for the future of artificial intelligence.
So, this is a strategic move for Nvidia. It positions the company as an artificial intelligence platform rather than just a chip supplier. This is the case with Nvidia, which has been expanding beyond just graphics processing units, hasn't it?
When this wave of artificial intelligence began, Nvidia's core competency was graphics processing units with software. correct? They had CUDA software and graphics processing units , together presenting a compelling value proposition for customers buying Nvidia technology.
Since then, Nvidia has been expanding rapidly and significantly in the field of networks that connect chips, CPUs, and everything else together .
They are developing their capabilities in central processing units , anticipating sales of $20 billion now, in addition to the very successful graphics processing units they sell, and they are now expanding into the same models, the open models.
I was looking at Nvidia and wondering, why don't they consider this an option? Because they have strategically invested in other companies , billions of dollars in many companies, which is truly changing the business model .
Historically, Nvidia has had an asset-light business model, researching and developing semiconductor designs , outsourcing manufacturing to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company , and then selling their AI factory to customers such as Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, enterprises, and others.
In reality, they are not building a complete work, either vertically or horizontally. They chose to be suppliers to the industry while outsourcing manufacturing. But in the most recent quarter it completed, the company generated $24 billion in cash flow from operations, up from $15 billion a year earlier. One year ago.
The company issued $ 25 billion in unsecured bonds , so they have more capital to use than even the $24 billion they made from operations. So, they returned $26 billion to shareholders through buybacks and dividends, but the management team is increasingly using that capital for strategic investments, investing in clients like Coreweave or Nebius, or investing in open models like Hugging Face now.
So , I'm looking at Nvidia's management team as they take these strategic steps, and wondering if they're still satisfied with the asset-light business model. Have they become more interested in capturing more value across the value chain?
Are they now more interested in perhaps owning some manufacturing operations? Perhaps possessing some additional components that go into these artificial intelligence factories.
Are they perhaps interested in owning and leasing some data centers?
There are several parts of the AI value chain where Nvidia has been content to say: "You know what? We're not interested in that part of the AI value chain . We're content with researching and developing GPUs, CPUs, networking equipment, and software that go into these AI data centers.
We're happy doing that. We don't want to go beyond that point."
But recently, the strategic moves I see from Nvidia indicate that it may be becoming more ambitious and considering expanding beyond that scope, not just because it wants to, but because it has become a necessity due to the supply chain and how it works , the shortage of supplies, and the parts that can deliver greater value.
companies like Nvidia and customers who buy this technology are forced to pay because they do not have these manufacturing capabilities themselves. They do not have that option to bring it in internally at the moment. Nvidia does it,
Therefore, we may see a shift in investor sentiment that encourages companies like Nvidia to control more of the value chain, and control more of the added value of artificial intelligence.
It's an interesting shift , and I'm watching it closely. I think Nvidia is well-positioned to capitalize on it, but this is definitely big news and something I'm following with interest.
I own shares in Nvidia. It is one of the largest centers in my investment portfolio, if not the largest. Its ranking fluctuates hour by hour between Nvidia and Netflix as the largest asset in my portfolio, depending on price movements during the day.
Therefore, I also rate Nvidia as the best stock to buy at the moment.
For this reason, I am certainly monitoring this matter closely.
What this channel has said about $NVDA
Parkev Tatevosian, CFA has 11 calls on this stock; only the adjacent ones are shown.