AI infrastructure provider Lambda has raised $1.5 billion in Series E funding, just weeks after announcing a multibillion-dollar agreement with Microsoft to supply tens of thousands of Nvidia GPUs. The deal underscores how the AI infrastructure boom is reshaping the data center industry, creating new winners in the race to power compute-hungry workloads.
Funding Round
The round was led by TWG Global, the $40 billion investment firm founded by billionaire investors Thomas Tull and Mark Walter, with participation from existing backers. TWG has a $15 billion AI-focused fund anchored by Mubadala Capital, reflecting the scale of capital now flowing into AI infrastructure TechCrunch Yahoo Finance.
Lambda’s CEO Stephen Balaban said the funding will accelerate the development of gigawatt-scale AI factories — massive compute hubs designed to make AI compute “as easy to access as electricity.”
Microsoft Partnership
Earlier this month, Lambda announced a multi-year strategic deal with Microsoft to deliver AI infrastructure powered by Nvidia’s latest GPUs, including GB300 NVL72 systems. The partnership will expand Microsoft’s cloud-based accelerated computing resources, directly supporting the company’s AI services and hyperscale data centers lambda.ai CNBC.
Industry Context
Lambda, often compared to rival CoreWeave, operates U.S.-based AI data centers and sells GPU clusters to hyperscalers and enterprises. Nvidia is also an investor, further cementing the company’s role in the AI supply chain.
The deal highlights a strategic shift: tech giants are no longer just buying renewable energy credits or renting compute — they are directly underwriting infrastructure to secure reliable, large-scale access to GPUs and power.
Outlook
With AI workloads demanding unprecedented compute capacity, Lambda’s rise illustrates how infrastructure providers are becoming critical players in the AI ecosystem. Analysts expect more hyperscalers to strike similar deals, as bottlenecks shift from chips and talent to raw electricity and GPU supply.
Sources: TechCrunch TechCrunch; Yahoo Finance Yahoo Finance; Lambda lambda.ai; CNBC CNBC; DataCenterDynamics DatacenterDynamics; SiliconANGLE SiliconANGLE.
