Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang unveiled new software and services aimed at spreading artificial intelligence computing throughout the economy, a movement that he describes as a new industrial revolution.
The company – now best known for its AI accelerator chips in data centres – introduced new tools and software models on the eve of the Computex trade show in Taiwan. Nvidia expects to play a big role in the new category of AI personal computers, the CEO said in a keynote address at National Taiwan University.
Nvidia has been the main beneficiary of a large flood of AI spending, helping turn the company into the world’s most valuable chipmaker. But it now looks to broaden its customer base beyond the handful of cloud-computing giants that generate much of its sales. As part of the expansion, Huang expects a larger swath of companies and government agencies to embrace AI – everyone from shipbuilders to drug developers. He returned to themes he set out a year ago at the same venue, including the idea that those without AI capabilities will be left behind.
“We are seeing computation inflation,” Mr Huang said on Sunday. As the amount of data that needs to be processed grows exponentially, traditional computing methods cannot keep up and it’s only through Nvidia’s style of accelerated computing that we can cut back the costs, Huang said. He touted 98 per cent cost savings and 97 per cent less energy required with Nvidia’s technology, saying that constituted “CEO math, which is not accurate, but it is correct”.
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Nvidia got its start selling gaming cards for desktop PCs, and that background is coming into play as computer makers push to add more AI functions to their machines.
Microsoft and its hardware partners are using Computex to show off new laptops with AI enhancements under the branding of Copilot+. The majority of those devices coming to market are based on a new type of processor that will enable them to go longer on one battery charge, provided by Nvidia rival Qualcomm Inc.
Although those devices are good for simple AI functionality, adding an Nvidia graphics card will massively increase their performance and bring new features to popular software like games, Nvidia said.
To help software makers bring more new capabilities to the PC, Nvidia is offering tools and pretrained AI models. They will handle complex tasks, such as deciding whether to crunch data on the machine itself or send it out to a data centre over the internet.
Separately, Nvidia is releasing a new design for server computers built on its chips. The MGX program is used by companies such as Hewlett Packard and Dell to allow them to get to market faster with products that are used by corporations and government agencies. Even rivals Advanced Micro Devices and Intel are taking advantage of the design with servers that put their processors alongside Nvidia chips. – Bloomberg
