On Monday,Nvidia unveiled new software called Lepton, designed to create a marketplace for renting computing power based on its artificial intelligence chips, at a time when global demand for these resources is skyrocketing.

As the undisputed leader in graphics processing units (GPUs) used to train AI models, Nvidia intends to facilitate access to its resources through this platform, which will bring together offerings from several emerging specialized cloud providers, known as neoclouds, such as CoreWeave and Nebius Group.

Lepton aims to simplify what is currently a tedious search: "It's almost like everyone has to call everyone else to find out where to find available capacity," Alexis Bjorlin, vice president of cloud at Nvidia, told Reuters. "We want to make this seamless, to allow the ecosystem to grow, and give all providers, whether global or emerging, access to our entire community of developers."

In addition to CoreWeave and Nebius, the platform's initial partners include Crusoe, Firmus, Foxconn, GMI Cloud, Lambda, Nscale, SoftBank Corp, and Yotta Data Services. Cloud giants such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud (Alphabet), and Microsoft Azure are not yet among the participants, but the platform is open to them if they wish to offer their capabilities.

Ultimately, Lepton will enable developers to search for Nvidia chips available in specific countries, thereby meeting data sovereignty or localization requirements. It will also offer companies that already own Nvidia GPUs a more intuitive way to supplement their capacity by renting from other operators.

Mario Morales, vice president at IDC, welcomes the initiative: "This is a smart move. Nvidia is connected to nearly five million developers, so they're looking to give them more direct access to their technology."

The platform's business model has not yet been detailed. Nvidia has not specified whether fees or commissions will be charged on transactions between developers and suppliers. Bjorlin simply stated that developers will continue to have a direct contractual relationship with computing power suppliers.

With Lepton, Nvidia is further consolidating its position as the conductor of the AI economy, transforming its chips into exchangeable resources within a globalized and scalable market.