Introduction

On August 1, 2025, Reuters confirmed that Alphabet’s growth‑stage arm CapitalG and Nvidia are in advanced talks to co-invest in AI infrastructure company Vast Data, potentially valuing the startup at $30 billion. Vast Data specializes in high-performance storage tailored to modern AI workloads and is backed by clients including xAI and CoreWeave. oit.rice.edureuters.com
Co-founder and CEO Renen Halak has guided the company to $200 million ARR, with projections to triple by 2026—drawing institutional attention as part of the critical AI backbone infrastructure.

Why it matters now

• AI supply chains take center stage: Funding in infrastructure—not models—is now a disruption frontier.
• Big Tech alignment: Nvidia and Alphabet backing suggests AI compute isn’t just software‑driven, hardware and storage are strategic.
• AI valuations redefined: A nearly $30B valuation for a storage company signals investor confidence in AI architecture firms.

Call‑out

Vast Data is positioned to become the backbone of AI infrastructure—worth $30B before scaling GPU farms.

Business implications

• Enterprise IT teams should evaluate storage platforms that match AI-scale I/O demands rather than legacy SAN/NAS.
• Cloud architects must consider emerging vendors like Vast as integration partners in hybrid model and compute pipelines.
• Venture capital and M&A strategists may pivot toward investments in infrastructure firms powering AI economics rather than front-line models.

Looking ahead

CapitalG and Nvidia aim to close the deal in the coming weeks; if finalized, it would signal momentum for secondary infrastructure firms beyond Fabless model makers. Analysts expect market consolidation—with firms like Pure Storage, NetApp, and Cohesity now competing with high-performance entrants like Vast. By 2027, industry watchers forecast 25% of AI compute investments will flow into infrastructure startups rather than model training alone.

The upshot: Silicon Valley isn’t just funding models. Big Tech is laying bricks in the AI supply chain—and Vast Data may become a cornerstone. As generative AI scales, disruption shifts beneath the surface—to infrastructure that moves data at compute scale.

Source: Reuters: Alphabet’s CapitalG, Nvidia in talks to fund Vast Data at up to $30 billion valuation, August 1, 2025. reuters.com