Tech Titans' Dinner Drama: Ellison and Musk's GPU Plea to Nvidia's Huang

You Won't Believe What Larry Ellison and Elon Musk Said to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang | The Motley Fool

Three billionaires walked into a Nobu, and two of them begged the other for something money can't buy right now. Larry Ellison is the chairman of Oracle (ORCL -1.75%), which is currently building some of the fastest and most cost efficient data centers in the world for developing artificial intelligence (AI). Elon Musk, on the other hand, runs Tesla (TSLA 2.39%), which is building AI-powered self-driving software for its electric vehicles. He also runs SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and a new AI start-up called xAI. Ellison and Musk need tens of thousands of graphics processors (GPUs) for their data centers in order to bring AI to life, and Nvidia (NVDA 0.31%) supplies the best chips in the industry. At Oracle's financial analyst meeting on Sept. 12, Ellison told the audience that he and Musk recently went to dinner with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at the Nobu restaurant in Palo Alto. The two, who are among the richest people on Earth, found themselves begging Huang for something money simply can't buy at the moment. Here's how it went down. Oracle currently has 162 data centers either live or under construction, but it believes that number could eventually top 2,000 because the demand for computing power from AI developers is soaring. Some of Oracle's largest data centers feature clusters of more than 32,000 GPUs, but next year the company will offer a cluster of 131,072 GPUs from Nvidia's latest Blackwell lineup. Oracle designed unique RDMA (random direct memory access) networking technology that can move data from one point to another more quickly than traditional Ethernet networks, and since developers pay for computing power by the minute, this can significantly reduce costs. That's why leading AI start-ups like OpenAI, Cohere, and even Musk's xAI are using Oracle's infrastructure. In its recent fiscal 2025 first quarter (ended July 31), the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) segment generated $2.2 billion in revenue, a whopping 45% jump from the year-ago period. However, it could be growing even faster if not for supply constraints -- in other words, Oracle simply can't get its hands on enough GPUs for its data centers. Not only is Oracle battling other cloud giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet for GPU allocations from Nvidia, but tech companies like Tesla and Meta Platforms are also soaking up supply to develop AI for their own purposes. Tesla is trying to bring a cluster of 50,000 GPUs online this year to enhance its self-driving software, which requires a substantial amount of computing power. Meta, on the other hand, used around 16,000 of Nvidia's flagship H100 GPUs to train its Llama 3.1 large language model (LLM), but the company plans to increase its capacity to a mind-boggling 600,000 H100 equivalents by the end of this year. That will pave the way for Llama 4, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg says could set the benchmark for the industry in 2025. Please take our money ... take more of it. You're not taking enough. ... We need you to take more of our money. Please. -- Ellison's and Musk's comments to Jensen Huang over dinner, according to Ellison. Ellison and Musk were practically begging Huang for more GPUs, but no amount of money in the world can buy the numbers they require right now because Nvidia simply can't keep up with demand. Oracle and Tesla aren't even Nvidia's biggest customers! Oracle spent $6.9 billion on capital expenditures (capex) during fiscal 2024 (ended April 30), and it expects to spend double that in fiscal 2025. Most of the money will go toward buying chips and building data centers. Tesla plans to spend over $10 billion on capex this calendar year on the whole, which will also go toward the 50,000 GPU cluster I mentioned earlier. Those numbers are modest compared to what other tech giants are spending. Microsoft allocated $55.7 billion to capex during its fiscal 2024 (ended June 30), and it plans to spend even more in fiscal 2025. Amazon's capex spending, on the other hand, could top $60 billion in calendar 2024. Therefore, it's no surprise that Nvidia generated $26.3 billion in data center revenue during its recent fiscal 2025 second quarter (ended July 28), a 154% increase from the year-ago period. Ellison says the wave of AI spending could continue for the next 10 years as companies and nation states battle for tech supremacy when it comes to AI, so Nvidia's data center revenue probably has plenty of growth left in the tank.

Larry Ellison and Elon Musk begged Nvidia's Jensen Huang for more GPUs over a fancy sushi dinner

The secret to getting more of the highly coveted Nvidia graphics processing units essential for advancing artificial intelligence and machine learning might be yellowtail sashimi. At a meeting with analysts last week, billionaire Oracle cofounder and chief technology officer Larry Ellison told the audience that he and world's-richest-man Elon Musk took Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang out to dinner at Nobu Palo Alto and "begged" Huang to give them more GPUs. "I would describe the dinner as Oracle -- me and Elon begging Jensen for GPUs," Ellison recalled. "Please take our money. Please take our money. By the way, I got dinner. No, no, take more of it. We need you to take more of our money please." The outcome was a net positive, said Ellison. "It went ok. I mean, it worked." Ellison, whose famed fortune is estimated to be $206 billion, is a prominent figure in the tech industry and serves as executive chairman of enterprise software firm Oracle. He is known for anticipating significant technological shifts, including accurately positioning the $475 billion tech giant to reap the benefits of the internet in its early days. He has further solidified the company by shifting it to capitalize on the surging need for cloud-based enterprise infrastructure. The company has maintained a strong relationship with Nvidia, which controls more than 80% of the AI chip market, and is the prime choice for companies working on AI. At last week's meeting Ellison said the competitive landscape won't hinder Oracle's growth. The simplest way of looking at it, Ellison replied, is the phrase,"the race goes on." He likened the current competition in AI to a Formula One driving race. "You've got three people on the podium, but there's really kind of one winner," said Ellison. "Someone is going to be better at this than anyone else, and multiple people are trying and there is a race." For its part, Oracle is making gargantuan investments in GPU technology, particularly for AI applications. The tech giant this month announced its first quarter results for fiscal 2025 and disclosed revenues were up 7% to $13.3 billion, year-over-year. Profits were $2.9 billion. Oracle also disclosed that it has 162 cloud datacenters in operation or under construction around the world and the largest of its datacenters is 800 megawatts and will house "acres of Nvidia GPU clusters" used to train large-scale AI models. In the first quarter, Oracle signed 42 more cloud GPU contracts, totaling $3 billion. Similarly, Tesla, where Musk serves as CEO, relies on Nvidia GPUs to power the supercomputers that train its neural networks for self-driving and assisted driving technology. According to Ellison, being the first to build the most capable neural network in the world "is a big deal." Given the desire to be at the forefront, many executives in AI are begging Huang for GPUs and building datacenters, he said. "Does anyone know what it costs to build a frontier model over the next three years?" Ellison was referring to the most advanced, bleeding-edge AI systems. "One hundred billion," said Ellison. "That's going to get you in the game." "Not a lot of people and not a lot of companies and not a lot of countries will participate."

Elon Musk And Oracle's Larry Ellison 'Begged' Jensen Huang For Nvidia GPUs At A Dinner: 'Please Take Our Money' - NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), Oracle (NYSE:ORCL)

Larry Ellison and Elon Musk recently implored Nvidia Corp. NVDA CEO Jensen Huang for additional GPUs during a dinner at Nobu Palo Alto. What Happened: During a meeting with analysts last week, Ellison, co-founder and CTO of Oracle Corp. ORCL, revealed that he and Tesla Inc. TSLA CEO Musk "begged" Huang for more GPUs. Ellison humorously recounted, "Please take our money. By the way, I got dinner. No, no, take more of it. We need you to take more of our money please." The dinner's outcome was positive, according to Ellison, who said, "It went ok. I mean, it worked." Ellison, whose fortune is estimated at $206 billion, according to Forbes, has a history of anticipating technological shifts and positioning Oracle to benefit from them. Oracle has maintained a strong relationship with Nvidia, which dominates the artificial intelligence chip market. The company is heavily investing in GPU technology for AI applications, with revenues up 7% to $13.3 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2025. Similarly, Tesla relies on Nvidia GPUs to train its neural networks for self-driving technology. Ellison emphasized the importance of being the first to build the most capable neural network, stating, "It's a big deal." See Also: Billionaire Ray Dalio Warns Potential Election Chaos Likely If Loser, Particularly Trump, Rejects Outcome - 'My Great Fear Is for Democracy' Why It Matters: The global supply of high-performance memory chips is expected to remain constrained throughout 2024, driven by the soaring demand for artificial intelligence technology. Leading memory chip suppliers like SK Hynix and Micron Technology Inc. are already facing shortages, with stock for 2025 nearly depleted. In May, Musk acknowledged and praised Nvidia's impressive market cap, which had reached $2.55 trillion, making it the third most-valued global corporation. In June, Musk justified his decision to divert Nvidia chips meant for Tesla to his other ventures, X and xAI, explaining that the existing factory space was already allocated to vehicle, battery, and cell production. The demand for Nvidia's RTX 4090 graphics cards has also surged, leading to a supply crisis exacerbated by U.S. sanctions on advanced chips to China. Read Next: Elon Musk's Ex-Wife And Mom Of 5 Says He Was Willing To Give Up His Fortune For Space Goals, Even If It Meant Moving In With Her Parents Photos courtesy: Wikimedia, Shutterstock and Nvidia This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Kaustubh Bagalkote Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

'Please take our money': Larry Ellison on begging Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang for AI chips

It seems even billionaires have to beg for the most coveted items in the world. Oracle (ORCL) co-founder Larry Ellison says he spent a dinner "begging" for more of Nvidia's (NVDA) artificial intelligence chips. Over dinner with Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, Ellison said he and Elon Musk, the wealthiest person in the world, were "begging Jensen for GPUs," or graphics processing units, which power some of the world's most advanced large language models. "Please take our money. No, no take more of it. We need you to take more of our money. Please," Ellison said during an Oracle investor event last week, Barrons reported. "It went okay. It worked." During Nvidia's earnings call in August, Huang said demand for the chipmaker's highly-anticipated Blackwell chips "is well above supply," and added that it expects to "ship several billion dollars in Blackwell revenue" in the fourth quarter. Last week, however, Huang said shortages of its latest generation chips have customers feeling "tense." Meanwhile, Ellison's net worth has soared amid the AI boom, as Oracle shares drive higher due to its cloud businesses. Ellison owns just under 40% of Oracle's outstanding stock, according to Forbes, which has climbed almost 61% so far this year. The Oracle chairman and chief technology officer's real-time net worth is $197.7 billion, according to Forbes -- putting him about $7 billion behind Bezos's real-time net worth of $204.4 billion. "As Cloud Services became Oracle's largest business, both our operating income and earnings per share growth accelerated," Oracle chief executive, Safra Catz, said in a statement last week after Oracle beat earnings expectations for the first quarter. Meanwhile, Ellison said the company has 162 cloud data centers, either in operation or under construction, around the world. "The largest of these datacenters is 800 megawatts and will contain acres of NVIDIA GPU Clusters for training large scale AI models," Ellison said.

Larry Ellison says he and Elon Musk 'begged' Jensen Huang for GPUs over dinner

This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in. He added that they told Huang, "Please take our money....we need you to take more of our money," before he quipped, "It went OK, it worked." Many Big Tech firms rely on Nvidia as their main supplier of GPUs, which are needed to build and train AI models. During Oracle's second-quarter earnings call last December -- for its fiscal year 2024 -- Ellison said his company provided Musk's startup xAI with GPUs to train its model Grok. He said, "They got that up and running, but boy did they want a lot more GPUs than we gave them; we're in the process of getting them more." In last week's earnings call, the billionaire investor also discussed his bullish stance on AI. He said the race for companies to build and train models over the next five years will be "astronomical" and upward of $100 billion. The cloud provider even has permits to build three nuclear reactors to power a data center he said Oracle is building, along with a supercomputer made up of up to 131,072 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs. Ellison also talked about how AI will change society in the future. He predicted that AI will be used to monitor citizens, supervise police officers and report them if there's a problem. "Citizens will be on their best behavior because we are constantly recording and reporting everything that's going on," he said. Oracle didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

When Oracle CEO and Elon Musk "begged" Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang: Please take our money.... - Times of India

Oracle co-founder and chairman Larry Ellison has expressed a strong desire to acquire more Nvidia GPUs. According to a report in Business Insider, during a recent earnings call, Ellison revealed a dinner meeting with long-time friend CEO Elon Musk and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at Nobu in Palo Alto. Ellison reportedly said, "I would describe the dinner as me and Elon begging Jensen for GPUs." He added that they told Huang, "Please take our money....we need you to take more of our money," before he quipped, "It went OK, it worked." One of the world's richest billionaires, Ellison emphasized the importance of GPUs in building and training AI models, stating that the race to develop these models will be a significant investment over the next five years.Oracle has even secured permits to build three nuclear reactors to power a data center that will house a supercomputer equipped with up to 131,072 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs. Oracle gave GPUs to Elon Musk's xAI During Oracle's second-quarter earnings call last December -- for its fiscal year 2024 -- Ellison said his company provided Musk's startup xAI with GPUs to train its model Grok. He said, "They got that up and running, but boy did they want a lot more GPUs than we gave them; we're in the process of getting them more." Ellison noted that xAI's demand for GPUs exceeded Oracle's initial allocation. Beyond the technical implications, Ellison also discussed the potential societal impact of AI. He predicted that AI could be used to monitor citizens, supervise police officers, and report misconduct. Ellison suggested that this constant surveillance could lead to a more compliant society. The TOI Tech Desk is a dedicated team of journalists committed to delivering the latest and most relevant news from the world of technology to readers of The Times of India. TOI Tech Desk's news coverage spans a wide spectrum across gadget launches, gadget reviews, trends, in-depth analysis, exclusive reports and breaking stories that impact technology and the digital universe. Be it how-tos or the latest happenings in AI, cybersecurity, personal gadgets, platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and more; TOI Tech Desk brings the news with accuracy and authenticity.