𝗡𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗶𝗮 (𝗡𝗩𝗗𝗔.𝗢)𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗲𝗳 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗝𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗻 𝗛𝘂𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗸𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆’𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘄 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗱𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹-𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆.
𝘖𝘯 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘰𝘯 𝘝𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺, 𝘏𝘶𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘕𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘢’𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘱, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 30 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘳.
He also detailed a new set of software tools to help developers sell AI models more easily to companies that use technology from Nvidia, whose customers include most of the world’s biggest technology firms.
Nvidia’s chip and software announcements at GTC 2024 will help determine whether the company can maintain its 80% share of the market for AI chips.
“I hope you realize this is not a concert,” Huang said, wearing his signature leather jacket and joking that the day’s keynote would be full of dense math and science.
It was a nod to how Nvidia, once mostly known among computer gaming enthusiasts, has earned recognition on par with tech giants like Microsoft and has become a Wall Street standout, with sales that more than doubled in its most recent fiscal year to surpass $60 billion.
Nvidia’s new flagship chip, called the B200, takes two squares of silicon the size of the company’s previous offering and binds them together into a single component.
While the B200 “Blackwell” chip is 30 times speedier at tasks like serving up answers from chatbots, Huang did not give specific details about how well it performs when chewing through huge amounts data to train those chatbots – which is the kind of work that has powered most of Nvidia’s soaring sales. He also gave no price details.
All together, Huang’s announcements failed to provide new fuel for a rally in which Nvidia’s shares have surged 240% over the past 12 months, making it the U.S. stock market’s third-most valuable company, behind only Microsoft and Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab.
Nvidia stock dipped 1.4% in extended trade, while Super Micro Computer (SMCI.O), which makes AI-optimized servers with Nvidia’s chips, fell 4%. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O), stock dipped nearly 3% during the keynote.
Tom Plumb, CEO and portfolio manager at Plumb Funds, whose largest holdings include Nvidia, said the Blackwell chip was not a surprise.
“But it reinforces that this company is still at the cutting edge and the leader in all graphics processing. That doesn’t mean the market is not going to be big enough for AMD and others to come in. But it shows that their lead is pretty insurmountable,” said Plumb.
Nvidia said major customers including Amazon.com (AMZN.O), Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O), Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Oracle (ORCL.N), are expected to use the new chip in cloud-computing services they sell, and also for their own AI offerings.
Nvidia also is shifting from selling single chips to selling total systems. Its latest iteration houses 72 of its AI chips and 36 central processors. It contains 600,000 parts in total and weighs 3,000 pounds (1,361 kg).
Many analysts expect Nvidia’s market share to drop several percentage points in 2024 as new products from competitors come to market and Nvidia’s largest customers make their own chips.
“Rivals like AMD, Intel (INTC.O), startups, and even Big Tech’s own chip aspirations threaten to chip away at Nvidia’s market share, particularly among cost-conscious enterprise customers,” said Insider Intelligence analyst Jason Bourne.
Though Nvidia is widely known for its hardware offerings, the company has built a significant battery of software products as well.
The new software tools, called microservices, improve system efficiency across a wide variety of uses, making it easier for a business to incorporate an AI model into its work, just as a good computer operating system can help apps work well.
In addition to AI software, Nvidia dived deeper into software for emulating the physical world with 3-D models. For work on designing cars, jets and products, Huang also announced partnerships with design software companies Ansys (ANSS.O), Cadence (CDNS.O), and Synopsys (SNPS.O). Shares of the three companies jumped around 3% in extended trade following Huang’s comments.
Huang also said that Nvidia’s software would be able to stream 3-D worlds to Apple’s new Vision Pro headset.
Nvidia also introduced a new line of chips designed for cars with new capabilities to run chatbots inside the vehicle. The company deepened its already-extensive relationships with Chinese automakers, saying that electric vehicle makers BYD (002594.SZ), and Xpeng will both use its new chips.
Toward the end of his keynote speech, Huang also outlined a new series of chips for creating humanoid robots, inviting several of the robots made using the chips to join him on the stage.
