Nvidia Discusses Major Investment in Perplexity at Over $30 Billion Valuation

Nvidia is reportedly in discussions to invest in Perplexity AI as part of an equity funding round that could value the AI startup at more than $30 billion, The Information reported on August 23, 2026. The potential investment marks a significant escalation in Nvidia's capital deployment strategy, signaling a transition from being purely an infrastructure supplier to securing permanent stakes in the application layer of AI search and agent technology. The funding round would represent a substantial valuation increase of more than 50% compared with Perplexity's previous fundraising round approximately a year ago, which had valued the company at around $20 billion. The discussions are centered on a funding round potentially worth several billion dollars, with Nvidia among prospective investors. The move mirrors a pattern Nvidia has established with other AI companies, including similar arrangements with Poolside and Groq. Perplexity's rapid growth trajectory has been remarkable. The company's annualized revenue has climbed above $750 million, up from less than $250 million at the start of 2026—a threefold increase in just eight months. Much of this growth has been driven by Perplexity Computer, a cloud-based AI agent designed to automate computer-based tasks for professional users. The company has grown from a $121 million valuation in April 2023 to the current $30 billion-plus discussions, representing approximately 175x growth over just 30 months. The potential investment aligns with strengthening commercial ties between the two companies. Perplexity announced last month plans to deploy Nvidia's new Vera CPUs for AI agent workloads after finding the chips significantly outperformed traditional server processors for core tasks. For Nvidia, this investment represents a logical extension of its compute landlord thesis—securing both hardware dependency and equity upside in companies building atop its infrastructure. The discussions remain unconfirmed by either Nvidia or Perplexity, though the move signals the chipmaker's increasingly aggressive strategy of becoming a major investor across the AI ecosystem.