Nvidia Unveils New Chips, Software, and Services to Lead AI Computing Revolution
In a packed arena in Las Vegas, Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang took the stage at the CES trade show on Monday to announce a raft of new chips, software, and services that aim to stay at the forefront of artificial intelligence computing.
A Vision for AI-Powered Future
Huang presented a vision for how AI will spread throughout the economy, with a billion humanoid robots, 10 million automated factories, and 1.5 billion self-driving cars and trucks being powered by Nvidia’s products. The company wants its products to be the heart of a future tech world where AI is ubiquitous.
Growing Interest in Nvidia’s Products
Interest in Nvidia’s products and Huang’s forecasts has exploded as companies rush to deploy new AI computing gear. The CEO outlined Nvidia’s products and strategy to his audience of hundreds for more than 90 minutes, including tie-ups with Toyota Motor Corp. and MediaTek Inc. that sent their shares more than 3% higher.
Nvidia’s Share Price Surges
Nvidia shares gained as much as 2.5% as New York trading opened but were little changed at 9:38 a.m. local time. The stock has gained more than 200% in the last 12 months. Asian suppliers, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., also surged on optimism about Nvidia’s prospects.
Advances for Gamers
Before his main pitch about technology destined for data centers, Huang offered up some advances for his traditional audience: gamers. Nvidia is launching an update to its GeForce GPUs, which were created with the same Blackwell design that the company uses in its AI accelerators, Huang said.
New GeForce 50 Series Cards
The new GeForce 50 series cards will take advantage of Blackwell’s capabilities to create even more realistic experiences for computer gamers. While traditional graphics chips build an image by calculating the shade of each pixel in the picture, the new technology will lean more heavily on AI to anticipate what the next frame should look like.
GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5070
The flagship RTX 5090 model will be available later this month for $1,999, with less powerful cards following later. The RTX 5070, costing $549, will debut in February with better performance than the prior range’s top model, the RTX 4090.
Shift from Gaming to Data Centers
As recently as 2022, gaming was Nvidia’s biggest source of sales. Now the chipmaker’s data center operation is far larger. It’s on course to contribute more than $100 billion this year, as the company’s accelerator chips are prized by the world’s largest tech companies.
Diversifying Revenue Streams
The next step is rolling out hardware and software to a larger swath of business and government agencies, helping diversify Nvidia’s revenue.
Toyota Partners with Nvidia for Autonomous Driving
Huang announced that Toyota, the world’s biggest vehicle maker, is now a customer for Nvidia’s autonomous driving AI products and will use its Drive chips and software. Toyota shares in Tokyo extended gains after the announcement.
Transforming Industries Worth $50 Trillion
Extending AI into more of the physical world will transform industries worth $50 trillion, Nvidia said. But the move will also bring challenges. Robots and cars will require software that can handle real-life complexities in a safe way.
Nvidia Cosmos: A Solution for Autonomous Vehicles
The company has created Nvidia Cosmos to help make robots smarter and produce fully autonomous vehicles. Cosmos technology is able to create video from inputs such as text. That video then becomes the basis of virtual training, helping reduce dependence on expensive and time-consuming real-world experimentation.
Partnership with Uber Technologies
Nvidia is also partnering with Uber Technologies to develop self-driving cars. The partnership aims to create a platform for developing and testing autonomous vehicles.
New Machines: Partnership with Taiwan’s MediaTek
The company is equipping the small $3,000 device with a single Grace Blackwell Superchip – a combination of central processor and graphics semiconductor – working with a large chunk of memory and fast connectivity. The idea is to provide developers with hardware capable of running very large AI models, ones that current laptops will struggle to handle.
Conclusion
Nvidia’s announcement marks an important step in the development of AI computing technology. With its new chips, software, and services, Nvidia aims to lead the AI computing revolution and transform industries worth $50 trillion.
