Nvidia has halted some transactions in a new financing program that provides credit support to AI cloud companies in exchange for a share of revenue, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Aug. 27.

Nvidia introduced the AI Compute Partnership program in July as part of efforts to help smaller cloud companies with fundraising difficulties. According to Nvidia, SharonAI and Permus Technologies were the first cloud companies to join the program.

Nvidia employees told existing and potential customers that the program introduced in July could face antitrust scrutiny, the report said. How far Nvidia can direct how customer companies run their operations is also a sensitive issue, WSJ said.

Sources said Nvidia may overhaul the program or integrate it into other plans in the future.

The decision comes as scrutiny grows over Nvidia backing projects in ways that directly fund or guarantee financing to generate demand for its chips.

Nvidia has also recently scaled back a financial guarantee plan for OpenAI's large data centre project in Ohio. A Nvidia spokesperson said the new business model introduced in July remains in place and continues to evolve amid strong demand.