Nvidia is betting on a publicly traded autonomous driving company. But, why?

‍What’s happening:‍

• Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) has disclosed that they’ve taken a new equity ownership stake in WeRide (NASDAQ: WRD) according to filings made with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission
  

By the numbers:‍

• Nvidia currently owns 1.7M shares of WeRide
  

Why it matters:‍

• This is one of the first large bets Nvidia has ever made on a publicly listed company focused on autonomous driving technology
  

Going deeper:‍

• Nvidia has been a long time collaborator with WeRide over the past decade, previously providing access to GPUs in exchange for equity in WeRide
  
• WeRide has continued to cut significant deals to expand their self driving technology globally, including just recently launching a new pilot project with the government of Switzerland
  

Market reaction:‍

• Shares of WeRide soared +83% following the announcement

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