In a revealing moment during Oracle’s recent earnings call, cofounder and chairman Larry Ellison disclosed that he and Elon Musk had dinner with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at Nobu in Palo Alto, where they were “begging” for more GPUs. Ellison candidly described the dinner: “I would describe the dinner as me and Elon begging Jensen for GPUs,” adding that they told Huang to “Please take our money….we need you to take more of our money.” The Oracle chairman quipped that the meeting “went OK, it worked.”
This dinner highlights the intense demand for Nvidia’s GPUs, which have become essential infrastructure for building and training AI models across Big Tech. Many major technology companies rely on Nvidia as their primary supplier of these critical chips, creating a supply crunch that has executives personally lobbying for access.
The relationship between Oracle and Musk’s ventures runs deep. During Oracle’s second-quarter earnings call in December 2024, Ellison revealed that Oracle provided GPUs to Musk’s startup xAI to train its AI model Grok. However, demand far exceeded supply, with Ellison noting: “They got that up and running, but boy did they want a lot more GPUs than we gave them; we’re in the process of getting them more.”
Ellison’s bullish stance on AI was evident throughout the earnings call. He predicted that the race for companies to build and train AI models over the next five years will be “astronomical,” with investments reaching upward of $100 billion. Oracle is positioning itself aggressively in this space, securing permits to build three nuclear reactors to power a massive data center. The facility will house a supercomputer comprising up to 131,072 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs, representing one of the largest AI infrastructure investments to date.
Beyond business implications, Ellison also shared his vision for AI’s societal impact. He predicted AI will be deployed to monitor citizens and supervise police officers, with automated reporting systems. “Citizens will be on their best behavior because we are constantly recording and reporting everything that’s going on,” he stated, painting a picture of pervasive AI surveillance that has raised eyebrows among privacy advocates.
Key Quotes
I would describe the dinner as me and Elon begging Jensen for GPUs.
Larry Ellison candidly described his dinner with Elon Musk and Jensen Huang during Oracle’s earnings call, revealing the desperate demand for Nvidia’s GPUs among tech leaders building AI infrastructure.
Please take our money….we need you to take more of our money.
Ellison recounted what he and Musk told Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, illustrating how GPU scarcity has inverted normal business dynamics, with customers begging to spend more rather than negotiating prices down.
Citizens will be on their best behavior because we are constantly recording and reporting everything that’s going on.
Ellison shared his vision for AI’s role in society, predicting widespread surveillance systems that monitor citizens and police officers, raising significant privacy and civil liberties concerns.
They got that up and running, but boy did they want a lot more GPUs than we gave them; we’re in the process of getting them more.
Ellison discussed Oracle’s relationship with Musk’s xAI startup, revealing that even after providing GPUs for training the Grok AI model, demand far exceeded what Oracle could supply.
Our Take
The image of two of the world’s wealthiest entrepreneurs “begging” for GPUs reveals how Nvidia has achieved unprecedented leverage in the AI economy. This isn’t just about hardware scarcity—it’s about strategic positioning in the AI value chain. Companies that can’t secure sufficient GPU allocations risk falling behind in AI capabilities, making Nvidia the kingmaker of the AI revolution. Oracle’s nuclear reactor plans demonstrate that energy infrastructure, not just chips, will determine AI leadership. Meanwhile, Ellison’s casual discussion of pervasive AI surveillance should alarm anyone concerned about privacy. His vision suggests tech leaders view constant monitoring as inevitable rather than debatable, potentially normalizing surveillance states. The convergence of these trends—GPU scarcity, massive infrastructure investments, and surveillance ambitions—paints a picture of an AI future shaped more by corporate capabilities than democratic deliberation.
Why This Matters
This story illuminates the critical GPU shortage facing the AI industry and the extraordinary measures executives are taking to secure hardware. When billionaires like Ellison and Musk must personally lobby Nvidia’s CEO for chips, it underscores how GPU access has become the primary bottleneck in AI development. This supply constraint is reshaping competitive dynamics, with companies that can secure GPU allocations gaining significant advantages in the AI race.
Oracle’s massive infrastructure investments—including nuclear reactors and 131,000+ GPU supercomputers—signal that major cloud providers are preparing for exponentially growing AI compute demands. The $100 billion+ spending projection for AI model development over five years represents a fundamental shift in technology investment priorities.
Ellison’s comments about AI-powered surveillance also raise important questions about the technology’s societal implications. His vision of constant monitoring and automated reporting systems highlights the tension between AI’s capabilities and privacy concerns, suggesting that debates over AI governance and ethics will intensify as these technologies become more prevalent in law enforcement and public spaces.
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