The AI boom has revived a dotcom-era tactic: suppliers backing the customers who buy from them.
In September 2000, Lucent had promised $8.1B of loans and guarantees to the carriers buying its gear: 24% of a year’s sales. Nvidia has agreed to guarantee up to $108.5B of its customers’ data-center bills, 36% of a year’s sales, almost all for a campus leased to OpenAI that will run only Nvidia hardware.
The difference is the cushion. Lucent’s promises equaled about 27 years of the cash its business brought in. Nvidia’s equal about 10 months of its cash.
Backing customers is a strategy call, not a finance detail. Strategist is built to put an independent strategy beside management’s, for any public company.
Would you back your customers this way? strategist.intelligenxe.com
