Nvidia Channel Chief Lists 2025 Priorities For Growing North American Partner Roster
Named one of CRN’s 50 Most Influential Channel Chiefs of 2025, Nvidia’s Craig Weinstein asks his 500 North American partners to invest in its full stack of solutions for generative AI development and says the roster will expand to support robotics and physical AI use cases.
Nvidia Americas Channel Chief Craig Weinstein said he expects the AI computing giant’s growing roster of North American channel partners to invest in its full stack of solutions, including software, to build out generative AI and agentic AI applications.
These were among the top priorities Weinstein—who was honored as one of CRN’s 50 Most Influential Channel Chiefs of 2025 Monday—listed for partners in his CRN Channel Chiefs profile, which said that Nvidia has 500 North American channel partners, up 42 percent from last year. Globally, Nvidia has 1,650 channel partners.
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In his profile, Weinstein, who is vice president of Nvidia’s Americas Partner Organization, said he expects the number of channel partners Nvidia works with to increase over the next 12 months, particularly because of the growing investments the company is making in areas like robotics and physical AI.
“As Nvidia expands into new markets like robotics and physical AI we'll see our ecosystem of partners evolve to engage with us in these opportunities. This is just one example of a market we'll work to develop and there will be many more and we'll build the ecosystem to support these as we invest and grow,” he wrote.
Eighty percent of Nvidia’s revenue comes from channel and alliance partners, according to Weinstein’s profile. This is down from the 90 percent figure he gave last year for revenue that comes through the company’s indirect channel and alliance relationships.
Weinstein’s 2025 Priorities For Nvidia Partners
As for the areas he would like to see Nvidia partners invest in, Weinstein first pointed to Nvidia’s full stack of AI solutions, which range from GPUs, CPUs and data processing units, to servers, software and services.
With these technologies, Weinstein said partners should focus their efforts on “developing and implementing” generative AI solutions as well as “building out AI infrastructure and related services.”
The channel chief pointed to Nvidia’s expanding software offerings, including Nvidia AI Enterprise, as another area partners should focus on, especially when it comes to creating agentic AI solutions.
The Most Innovative Initiative From Weinstein’s Team Last Year
Weinstein called Nvidia Blueprints, a significant driver of its agentic AI work with channel partners, the single most innovative initiative his team was responsible for last year.
Nvidia Blueprints consist of “pretrained, customizable AI workflows designed to help enterprise developers build and deploy generative AI applications for specific use cases,” according to Weinstein. The first channel partners and OEMs to support them include Accenture, Cisco, Dell Technologies, Deloitte, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Lenovo, SoftServe and World Wide Technology.
“Partners are leveraging these blueprints to assist clients in various industries, including healthcare, manufacturing, telecommunications, financial services, and retail,” he wrote.
“By providing these blueprints, NVIDIA aims to equip partners and enterprises with the tools needed to rapidly develop and deploy customized AI applications, leveraging NVIDIA's advanced AI technologies and the expertise of our partner ecosystem,” Weinstein added.
Weinstein’s Top Channel Goals, Nvidia’s Top Partner Metrics
Weinstein said his top channel goals in 2025 are to “enable partners to develop an AI strategy” and “sell AI solutions,” “improve partner technical skills,” and “increase the amount of professional services going through partners.”
The top five metrics for which these partners are rewarded consist of their “ability to execute a land and expand sales strategy, their “ability to deliver business outcomes to customers,” their ability to sell multiple products from Nvidia’s portfolio, their professional services delivery capabilities and their vertical market focus, according to Weinstein.
Among the top 13 Americas partners Nvidia honored last year, there was a focus on various industries, such as financial services, health care, higher education and public sector. This focus on industry expertise with partners was among the top three accomplishments of Weinstein’s organization last year, according to the channel chief.
“These partners are building world class capabilities to serve the AI use cases and opportunities with the most important brands globally. We've won some of the largest enterprise AI contacts in history with our Nvidia partner ecosystem,” Weinstein wrote.
Nvidia Plans To Increase MDF In 2025 With Industry Focus
With plans to increase market development funds this year, Weinstein said Nvidia “tailors its marketing and investment strategies to specific industries like financial services, healthcare, and higher education.”
The channel chief added that Nvidia’s MDF strategy recognizes and rewards “who drive AI adoption and innovation across various industries.”
Weinstein also noted that Nvidia invests in building a comprehensive ecosystem around [its] technologies” and makes corporate investments in companies that enhance its platform and expands its ecosystem” with respect to its MDF profile.
Thirty percent of Nvidia’s overall marketing budget is dedicated to channel marketing, according to Weinstein’s profile. This is up from the 10 percent figure he provided to CRN last year.
“I love helping partners. Full stop. It's that simple. I truly believe we can help partners build capabilities that will build the foundation of their businesses for decades to come,” Weinstein wrote, explaining his favorite thing about working in the channel.