Energy News
CHIP TECH
Chip giant Nvidia rides AI wave as profits soar
Chip giant Nvidia rides AI wave as profits soar
By Glenn Chapman with Alex PIGMAN in Washington DC
San Francisco (AFP) Aug 23, 2023
US chip giant Nvidia, whose products play a crucial role in artificial intelligence systems, crushed expectations on Wednesday, as the post-ChatGPT AI frenzy continues to lift the tech sector.

The Silicon Valley-based company said sales doubled year-on-year to $13.5 billion in the latest completed quarter, leaving a net profit of $6.2 billion -- an eye-watering 843 percent higher than a year before.

Signaling that the boom in AI is still going strong, Nvidia said revenue in the current quarter would ramp up further to $16 billion.

"A new computing era has begun," Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said after the stellar earnings report.

"Together accelerated computing and generative AI are driving a broad based computer industry platform shift. Our demand is tremendous," he said on an analyst call.

Nvidia's stock rose more than 8 percent following the results. This year, the company's share price has more than tripled.

Nvidia's quintessential position in delivering artificial intelligence has made it a bellwether on the generative AI frenzy that took hold of the tech world after the release of ChatGPT late last year.

As the wave began to build, the company already wowed Wall Street with spectacular earnings earlier in the year, helping transform Nvidia into a trillion dollar company based on market capitalization, a rare perch shared only by a handful of giants.

"The entire tech sector and overall market was waiting for Nvidia with this being the purest and best barometer for AI demand," said Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities.

In the end, the earnings "were a 'drop the mic' moment that will have a ripple impact for the tech space for the rest of the year," he said.

Riding high on his success, Huang, who is known for always wearing a black leather jacket, urged companies to shift their spending away from classic computing and embrace AI.

"AI provides a new way of generating productivity, a new way of generating new services to offer to your customers and accelerated computing helps you save money and save power," Huang said.

Nvidia manufactures graphics processing units (GPUs), a powerful chip technology that is necessary to build the generative AI that delivers ChatGPT as well as image, facial and speech recognition.

The company also offers AI-focused computers and services making it an unparalleled one-stop shop for AI.

Originally designed for video game graphics, each of Nvidia's GPU chips cost tens of thousands of dollars and companies are scrambling to stock up as the pressure to keep up with the AI revolution grows.

- Supply crunch? -

Customers have struggled to get their hands on Nvidia's AI chips as startups, big companies, governments and cloud providers ramp up orders and hoard stock.

Elon Musk, who this year started his own AI company, has said that GPUs "are considerably harder to get than drugs" at the moment, with buyers even looking to buy components from struggling cryptocurrency companies that also use GPUs.

Some fear that Nvidia may eventually struggle to meet demand with crucial components from Taiwan's TSMC chip-making plants hard pressed to meet Nvidia's needs.

Nvidia doesn't actually make its own chips, but rather designs them and then outsources the manufacturing to other companies. It is therefore vulnerable to chokepoints in its complex supply chain.

Nvidia's strategic role in AI saw the United States government last year place export restrictions on the company's highest performing chips, which forced the it to make slower versions for the Chinese market.

The White House is considering additional export curbs that could further limit Nvidia's access to the Chinese market.

In an analyst call, Nvidia CFO Colette Kress warned against the US cracking down harder, saying it "will result in a permanent loss of an opportunity for the US industry to compete and lead in one of the world's largest markets."

Related Links
Computer Chip Architecture, Technology and Manufacture
Nano Technology News From SpaceMart.com

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
CHIP TECH
Room temperature spin-switching in quantum materials
Cambridge UK (SPX) Aug 17, 2023
Researchers have found a way to control the interaction of light and quantum 'spin' in organic semiconductors, that works even at room temperature. Spin is the term for the intrinsic angular momentum of electrons, which is referred to as up or down. Using the up/down spin states of electrons instead of the 0 and 1 in conventional computer logic could transform the way in which computers process information. And sensors based on quantum principles could vastly improve our abilities to measure and s ... read more

CHIP TECH
Chevron, partners develop a transportation fuel using animal waste as a feedstock

Making aviation fuel from biomass

Transforming flies into degradable plastics

Illinois research leading to cleaner propane production method

CHIP TECH
Lithuanian invention at the forefront of solar technology breakthrough

Solar powered irrigation: a game-changer for small-scale farms in sub-Saharan Africa

To improve solar and other clean energy tech, look beyond hardware

US accuses Chinese companies of evading solar panel tariffs

CHIP TECH
World's largest floating offshore wind farm starts full service, Norway's Equinor says

DLR opens wind energy research farm in Krummendeich

U.S. identifies three new areas for potential offshore wind energy development

Biden to visit Philly Shipyard to announce construction of offshore wind vessel

CHIP TECH
Campaigners urge debt cancellation to cut fossil fuel reliance

Bringing sustainable and affordable electricity to all

European energy firms doing nothing to tackle climate change, says Greenpeace

UK lagging in switch to green energy, study warns

CHIP TECH
Alumnus' thermal battery helps industry eliminate fossil fuels

Jeep owner Stellantis invests $100 mn in US lithium

DoE announces $112 million for research on computational projects in fusion energy sciences

US lab repeats nuclear fusion feat, with higher yield

CHIP TECH
Oceans release microplastics into the atmosphere

London police probe vandalism of vehicle pollution cameras

US hits Lebanese environmental group with sanctions

Indonesia says capital pollution spike due to weather, vehicles

CHIP TECH
Graphene discovery could help generate hydrogen cheaply and sustainably

Iraq, Turkey talk water, oil and the PKK

Ecuador votes to halt oil drilling in Amazon's Yasuni National Park

Big potential for green hydrogen in North Africa: report

CHIP TECH
Enjoying the Climb: Sols 3916-3918

Cracks in ancient Martian mud surprise Curiosity team

Engineers put a Mars lander legs to the test

Phoenix's Red Planet Selfie

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2026 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.