How NVIDIA dominates AI without making AI? 'An undercover giant'
Amidst the booming AI revolution, a silent titan capitalises, driving tech disruption without producing AI products.
With the introduction of ChatGPT, a new wave of artificial intelligence has risen, signalling upheaval in the tech sector. The AI business, which was worth only $18 billion in 2018, is expected to grow to an astounding $126 billion by 2025. However, a business quietly stirs the waters, strategically capitalising on AI innovation—yet, curiously, without generating any AI products of its own. What hidden resources does it have at its disposal? What grandiose plans do its covert activities conceal? (ALSO READ: Top AI experts sign open letter warning of ‘extinction’ risk)
The silent riser
NVIDIA, an American multinational corporation, has become the world's first chipmaker and only the sixth public business to be valued at more than $1 trillion, joining the ranks of Apple, Saudi Aramco, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon. So far in 2023, the company's stock has increased by a whooping 180 percent, reaching a high of $419.38. The stock is now trading at $401.11 (Tuesday).
NVIDIA's stock rose sharply after the firm revealed quarterly results that exceeded forecasts. NVIDIA's high sales prediction for the second quarter of fiscal 2024, which totalled $11 billion, outperformed consensus forecasts by 50%.
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So, what is causing this uptick?
All because of the AI surge! The organisation has perfected the art of reinventing itself in response to market demands, propelling it to the forefront of the industry. According to Microsoft, the OpenAI supercomputer is a single system with more than 285,000 CPU cores, 10,000 GPUs, and 400 gigabits per second network connectivity for each GPU server.
NVIDIA is the master of trend adaptation!
NVIDIA, which was founded in 1993, is a pioneer in the creation of graphics processing units (GPUs) built to do complicated graphics computations.
Initially focusing on GPUs for computer gaming, it swiftly expanded its reach beyond gaming, with GPUs finding uses in sectors as diverse as scientific research and data analysis. And it has now quietly expanded its dominance in the AI business.
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NVIDIA vs Intel
NVIDIA manufactures GPUs, which are essential components of generative AI systems such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard. It has an advantage over other chipmakers like as Intel, which are primarily focused on manufacturing central processing units (CPUs).
CPUs are designed for routine computing operations such as running applications and operating systems. They excel at managing difficult jobs that must be completed one after the other. GPUs, on the other hand, are specialist processors that are optimised for parallel computing. As a result, they are ideal for activities such as graphics rendering, scientific simulations, and speeding up AI computations.