Published on October 17, 2025 3:05 AM GMT

For months now, I’ve heard about widespread fear among think tank researchers and policy experts who publish work against NVIDIA’s interests.

NVIDIA is the most valuable company on Earth, the dominant supplier of AI chips, and is currently valued at 4.5 trillion dollars. I worry that fear of its potential retaliation—rumors of attempted firings and media hit pieces—is distorting some of the most important AI policy debates.

Based on what I’ve heard, there is no smoking gun of wrongdoing, but certainly a pattern of fear that impacts policy discussion, justified or not. This fear isn’t just limited to think tank staffers either: I’ve heard many concerning claims that the major AI companies disagree with NVIDIA’s policy stances and know that its talking points are flawed, but are unwilling to speak out because NVIDIA has the power to undermine their business.

To date, these details have mostly dripped out in isolated places online, and so I’ve done the legwork to document and consolidate them to one place, in addition to speaking with a wide range of sources for further substantiation.

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