In July, Nvidia considered making a last-minute bid for OpenRouter, a popular marketplace for AI models. According to sources, Nvidia's leadership informed the startup it was prepared to make a generous offer but required more time to evaluate the deal. OpenRouter, which was already in advanced acquisition talks with other companies, was unwilling to wait.
Ultimately, Nvidia did not submit a formal offer for the three-year-old startup. In August, the payments company Stripe announced it had agreed to acquire OpenRouter for a price reported to be between $7 billion and $8 billion. The failed bid highlights Nvidia's aggressive strategy to acquire key companies in the AI ecosystem.