“In the 1920s, water went into a generator, and DC power came out. Now electrons go into a generator, and intelligence comes out.” I’m chatting with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at the chip giant’s Silicon Valley headquarters, where one of its DGX H100 computing modules sits partially disassembled before us. Stuffed with blazingly fast processors and other cutting-edge components, the box, which can sell for as much as $500,000, is a foundational building block of the supercomputers used by huge companies, startups, and universities alike to power transformative new AI experiences, and Huang has turned to a previous technological revolution to explain its significance. It’s an evocative comparison: AI running on Nvidia hardware changing everyday life as profoundly as electricity once did. But if anything, it understates Nvidia’s sweeping influence on the current moment. Even its overwhelmingly dominant market share for AI chips—85%, according to Raymond James Financial—doesn’t convey Nvidia’s contribution to AI as we know it. Nvidia isn’t just in the business of providing ever-more-powerful computing hardware and letting everybody else figure out what to do with it. Across an array of industries, the company’s technologies, platforms, and partnerships are doing much of the heavy lifting of putting AI to work. In a single week in January 2024, for instance, Nvidia reported that it had begun beta testing its drug discovery platform, demoed software that lets video game characters speak unscripted dialogue, announced deals with four Chinese EV manufacturers that will incorporate Nvidia technology in their vehicles, and unveiled a retail-industry partnership aimed at foiling organized shoplifting.
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