Nvidia Founder and CEO Jensen Huang on the AI revolution

Summary

In this interview, Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, discusses the company’s rapid pace of innovation, particularly in AI and GPU technology. He explains Nvidia’s strategy of continuous chip development, with improvements in performance, power efficiency, and revenue generation. Huang emphasizes the interconnected global supply chain, especially with Taiwan’s TSMC, and how Nvidia is adapting to geopolitical challenges. Despite the pressures of meeting global demand and the responsibility of supporting industries worldwide, Huang remains excited about the future of AI. Nvidia's vision is to shape the next era of computing with groundbreaking technologies and solutions.

Takeaways

• 😀 Nvidia’s architecture is present in every cloud and computing platform, making it the most obvious choice for companies to use in their AI infrastructure.
• 😀 The pace of innovation at Nvidia is extremely fast, with new architectures and chips being developed every two years, which results in significant improvements in performance.
• 😀 Nvidia's Blackwell architecture offers three times faster performance for training and 30 times faster inference compared to its predecessor, Hopper.
• 😀 Nvidia has seven different chips contributing to performance, allowing them to continually innovate and release better superclusters every year.
• 😀 Nvidia’s ability to deliver new technologies quickly is due to its integrated system, which ensures software compatibility across all platforms, making it easy for customers to deploy solutions.
• 😀 The performance of Nvidia's chips directly translates to increased revenue for customers, with significant performance gains for the same power usage or cost.
• 😀 Nvidia’s supply chain is highly interconnected, with manufacturing primarily in Asia, particularly with TSMC, which is known for its superior performance.
• 😀 Nvidia has built redundancy and diversity into its supply chain to protect against geopolitical risks, allowing them to shift manufacturing if necessary.
• 😀 The company’s responsibility in supporting every AI company and data center in the world is significant, with growing demand making delivery of components emotionally charged for customers.
• 😀 Despite the intense pressure, Jensen Huang finds excitement in being part of the evolution of the computer era, noting how AI and automation are revolutionizing industries.
• 😀 Nvidia is not just a chip maker; they are enabling the creation of the next generation of technologies like AI agents and robots, all driven by their hardware and software ecosystem.

Q & A

How has Nvidia's strategy contributed to its current market leadership?

Nvidia's strategy of using a consistent architecture across its chips has played a key role in its leadership. By building an ecosystem that integrates multiple chips with optimized software, Nvidia ensures compatibility and ease of scaling for customers, making its products reliable and easy to deploy in various industries.

What is the significance of Nvidia's Blackwell architecture?

The Blackwell architecture is significant for its major performance improvements over its predecessor, Hopper. It offers up to four times faster training and thirty times faster inference, which boosts both performance and revenue for customers while being architecturally compatible with previous generations.

How does Nvidia maintain its pace of innovation despite the complexity of its hardware?

Nvidia maintains its innovation pace by designing seven different chips that work together to optimize performance. Each chip has a development cycle of approximately two years, allowing Nvidia to deliver regular improvements to its product lineup, with new innovations introduced every year.

What role do Nvidia's chips play in the profitability of its customers?

Nvidia’s chips are designed to maximize performance while minimizing power usage, leading to higher revenues for customers. The Blackwell architecture, for example, provides three times more performance per unit of power, directly translating to increased throughput and higher returns on investment.

What is Nvidia’s approach to ensuring its software remains compatible across generations of hardware?

Nvidia ensures that its software is compatible across different generations of hardware by maintaining a consistent architecture. This enables customers to continue running their existing software on newer systems without requiring major modifications, simplifying upgrades and ensuring long-term compatibility.

How does Nvidia address the pressure of meeting high customer demand?

Nvidia deals with the high demand for its products by continuously scaling up production capacity and working closely with supply chain partners like TSMC. However, the immense demand also brings emotional stress, as customers are highly dependent on timely delivery and performance to meet their own business goals.

What challenges does Nvidia face with its supply chain, particularly in Asia?

Nvidia faces geopolitical challenges regarding its supply chain, especially with its reliance on Asian manufacturing, particularly in Taiwan. Despite these risks, Nvidia has built redundancy and diversity into its supply chain and keeps enough intellectual property in-house to shift production if necessary, ensuring the company can meet demand.

Why does Nvidia choose to work with TSMC, and what makes them a good partner?

Nvidia works with TSMC because they are considered the best in the industry, with a proven track record of delivering high-quality chips. TSMC’s ability to scale production quickly and respond to Nvidia's needs has been crucial for meeting the surge in demand for Nvidia's products, especially during periods of rapid growth.

How does Nvidia ensure its hardware is optimized for AI applications?

Nvidia’s hardware is optimized for AI applications by integrating multiple specialized chips that work together to deliver performance gains across various AI tasks, including training and inference. This hardware is designed to support demanding AI workloads and provide superior performance per watt and total cost of ownership.

What does Jensen Huang mean by having the 'world on our shoulders'?

When Jensen Huang refers to having the 'world on our shoulders,' he is expressing the immense responsibility Nvidia carries in supporting the global demand for AI technology. With its products being integral to the success of many AI applications and data centers, Nvidia faces significant pressure to meet customer expectations and maintain its position as a leader in the industry.