Not an Acquisition: Nvidia Pays $6 Billion for Poolside's Model Factory and 109 Engineers - August 22, 2026

Not an Acquisition: Nvidia Pays $6 Billion for Poolside's Model Factory and 109 Engineers Nvidia licensed Poolside's Model Factory for $6 billion, invested another $1 billion at a $12 billion pre-money valuation, and made job offers to 109 of the fewer than 115 people who built the company's Laguna models. Poolside's investor letter insists this is neither an acquisition nor an acquihire, and it is the third deal Nvidia has structured this way after Groq and Enfabrica. Chris and Laura dig into what a non-exclusive license really transfers, why a lost 40,000-chip cluster forced the deal, and what it means when the company that controls the compute becomes the most likely buyer. Hosted by Chris and Laura. The DX Today Podcast brings you daily deep dives into the most consequential stories in the AI ecosystem. #ArtificialIntelligence #Nvidia #AIChips #TechMergers #OpenWeightModels