Nvidia started its annual conference for software developers on Monday, and there has probably never been as much hype around it as this time. Thanks to its previously dominant position in the business of chips used for artificial intelligence applications, the American semiconductor company has recently written an incredible growth story in terms of its business figures and its share price.
In its most recent reporting quarter, it more than tripled its revenue and more than eightfolded its net income. Almost a year ago, it was the first chip provider to exceed the $1 trillion mark with its market value, and today it even has a market capitalization of $2.2 trillion. Only two American companies – Microsoft and Apple – are ahead of him.
There was correspondingly great excitement before Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's appearance at the GPU Technology Conference or GTC on Monday. Bank of America analysts had previously described the event as “AI Woodstock,” and Huang felt compelled to remind his audience at the start of his speech at the SAP Center in San Jose, California, that they were not at a concert.
Nvidia promises “most powerful chip in the world”
As expected, Huang introduced the new generation of Nvidia graphics processors intended for AI applications. The new platform is called Blackwell, after the American mathematician and statistician David Blackwell, and it follows the Hopper architecture, which includes the H100 chip system. This series has been in such demand since its introduction two years ago that Nvidia can hardly keep up with deliveries.
Nvidia describes its new Blackwell platform as the “most powerful chip in the world”. The new B200 processors have 208 billion transistors, and according to the company, they are not only many times more powerful, but also consume significantly less energy. Nvidia also showed off a new “superchip” GB200, which combines two B200 processors. A supercomputer containing dozens of the new processors was also unveiled.
Huang said that while the previous generation Hopper was “fantastic,” larger graphics processors are now needed. He described generative AI as “the defining technology of our time,” and Blackwell was the driver of “this new industrial revolution.”
In a statement, Nvidia listed a number of prominent technology companies such as Open AI, Microsoft, Google and Meta as buyers of the new chip series and let their bosses have their say. Sam Altman, the chief executive of Open AI, said Blackwell offers “massive leaps in performance.” The AI company X.AI, founded by Elon Musk just last year, was also mentioned, and Musk was quoted as saying: “There is nothing better for AI at the moment than Nvidia hardware.” Huang also announced the expansion during his appearance a number of partnerships, including with the German companies Siemens and SAP.
Blackwell-based products will launch later this year, according to Nvidia. The company recently said that it was also expecting significant supply bottlenecks for its new generation of chips. A price for the Blackwell processors was not announced on Monday. The H100 chip systems can cost up to $40,000.
#Woodstock #Nvidia #chips