Las Vegas (AFP) – Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang made a rock star appearance at a packed arena late Monday, touting AI chips and software for robots, cars, video games, and more. After years of being on the sidelines at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, talk of computer chips was a hot ticket as people queued for hours to fill an arena to hear Huang talk about AI.
“When you see application after application that is AI driven, at the core of it is that machine learning has changed how computing will be done,” Jensen said during a one-man presentation on stage. “There are so many things you can’t do without AI.” Jensen’s keynote came on the eve of the opening of the CES show floor, and on a day that Nvidia shares closed at a new record, giving the Silicon Valley company a market valuation of more than $3.6 trillion.
Nvidia’s graphics unit processors (GPUs) for powering AI in data centers have been snapped up by Google, Microsoft, Meta, OpenAI, and others racing to be leaders in the technology. During a lengthy presentation in Michelob Ultra Arena at Mandalay Bay resort, Huang introduced a GPU for ramping up AI capabilities in personal computers, where Nvidia won the loyalty of gamers in the company’s early days.
Nvidia touted the new GeForce RTX 50 series for desktop and laptop computers, based on Blackwell chip architecture, as its most advanced consumer GPUs. “Blackwell, the engine of AI, has arrived for PC gamers, developers, and creatives,” Huang said. PCs enhanced with RTX chips for AI capabilities will be available from an array of manufacturers including Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Razer, and Samsung, according to Nvidia.
An AI PC displayed during the presentation was priced at $1,299, built with the $549 RTX chip at the starting point of the new GPU line-up. Jensen expected AI PCs to feature “agents” specializing in tasks or acting as capable assistants. Along with rapid rendering of rich gameplay action, Nvidia AI technology will enable the creation of characters that perceive, plan, and act like human players, according to Nvidia. Such autonomous characters are being integrated into games including “PUBG: Battlegrounds,” according to Nvidia.
Huang also introduced a family of foundation models open to the world for advancing “physical AI” that enables robots to understand and engage in real-world tasks. Nvidia expanded partnerships and technology for autonomous capabilities in cars as well, with Toyota joining its roster of partners.
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