Neither acquisition nor acquisition, insist the interested parties: the Franco-American start-up remains independent and sees its valuation increased to $12 billion by an additional investment.
On August 20, 2026, Nvidia entered into a non-exclusive licensing agreement with Poolside for the in-house tooling that the start-up has developed to manufacture its models. The amount, $6 billion, is accompanied by an investment of $1 billion that brings Poolside's pre-monetary valuation to $12 billion, and job offers to 109 of its employees.
The letter sent to investors is careful to dismiss two qualifications: it is neither an acquisition nor an acquisition. Poolside continues to exist and operate on its own account, with its remaining teams spread between the United States and Paris, in a rather particular niche — code generation models for government and defense clients.
Buying the method rather than the company
For Nvidia, the set-up amounts to acquiring an industrial capacity — knowing how to train large-scale code models — and the people who master it, without absorbing the company or its commitments. A formula that bypasses the antitrust scrutiny to which a takeover of this size would be subject, and which is beginning to set a precedent in the sector.
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