Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s view on the massive growth of general AI | interview

Jensen Huang will give a keynote speech at the Computex 2023 event in Taiwan over the weekend, but he’s hit the highs thanks to the resurgence of demand for AI thanks to the popularity of artificial AI like ChatGPT’s. OpenAI.

Huang reported earnings on Wednesday that beat Wall Street’s expectations for revenue as well as expectations for the second half of the year. That prompted a widespread tech rally on Wall Street.

The graphics chip and AI company’s stock price has jumped 27% over the past few days from $305 a share to $389.25 today. With a market cap of $963 billion, Nvidia’s valuation is nearing $1 trillion.

Thanks to its strength in data center chips, Nvidia reported revenue of $7.19 billion for the first fiscal quarter ended April 30, down 13% from a year ago but beating expectations. Data center revenue for the first fiscal quarter hit a record $4.28 billion, up 14% from a year ago and up 18% from the previous quarter.

I spoke briefly with Huang after this week’s earnings announcement, and he told me he believes in the rise of AI and Nvidia’s ability to streamline production to meet this demand. But he doesn’t think there will be a spike in the broader economy in the second half of the year. And he noted that the game, although down from a year ago, has returned to quarterly growth from previous quarters.

Here is an edited transcript of our interview.

GamesBeat: Looks like you guys have a nice report today.

Jensen Hoang: We always have fun reports! It’s an important time. I’ll say something fun.

GamesBeat: I wonder what the transition will be like as we move from hitting the gas, underwhelming during the pandemic, hitting the brakes and now hitting the gas again after the launch of ChatGPT and the rise of AI new generation. How do you feel the model will meet the higher expectations now?

King: The good news is that we booked it on Hopper. We went into production last August. Our timing is perfect. The amp, of course, is still in high demand and it is already in large numbers. The first part is that our supply chain is huge and our supply chain flow is already very high. On top of that, we still have a sizable uptick in demand. We have purchased significant additional supply for the second half of this year. We responded very quickly and placed very large orders. We have purchased a wide range of incoming supplies.

GamesBeat: Do you see something like the economic resurgence that comes with this? Is the second half of the year also good for that reason? Or is this really just an AI phenomenon?

King: I think it’s an AI phenomenon. The reason is because the rest of the data center is still down. The data center, enterprise computing, as you know, is muted. But innovative AI is doing great. I think it’s very focused on general AI. For the first time, people can see how they will make money with innovative AI. All these APIs can be connected to all these services and applications. It’s a lot easier to invest when you can see a return on that investment. That’s number one. Second, people are finally realizing that, when everything comes together, speeding up computers saves them money and energy.

GamesBeat: Why is it so expensive to train large language models?

King: Yes, they don’t. They really don’t.

GamesBeat: The impression I get from ChatGPT is that it’s very expensive.

King: It doesn’t cost that much. The reason is – it just depends on where you start. If you were a software engineer, you used to be able to write an app just by buying a Macbook. Now, suddenly, it seems like a lot to need a supercomputer to help you develop the model. But let’s put it into perspective. If you’re building a chip company and you’re mining a chip, the value of a chip is about $100 million, mining alone. Not to mention the tools, maybe another $100 million, and not to mention all the engineers, all the systems you’re developing, stuff like that. To build one of our chips, several billion dollars are needed. And we’re just a chip company. There are many chip companies. When they stick a chip, it’s no less than $25 million. Today, write, develop a large language model–mining a chip, what the software industry is learning is that building these big language models is like mining a chip.

GamesBeat: Are there any worries that we might still see shortages of some sort due to this rapidly changing demand? Or do you not worry much about that?

King: I think the shortfall for services is quite severe at the moment. But I think it will improve a lot in just a few months, as all systems work in real time. This will get better in real time.

GamesBeat: Gaming seems lighter. Is it for any particular reason?

King: No, I think gaming is great. We are seeing sequential growth.

GamesBeat: Still, I guess it’s still down from a year ago.

King: Yes, but that’s because of all the things from a year ago. Year-to-date comparisons are difficult. But the quarterly results are good. Adjusting the channel inventory is now behind us. Now we are spreading Ada across the board. I’m pretty excited about that. There is a new app for advertising in town. It’s called creative AI. GeForce is for gamers and creators. Now you have generalized AI to help you create everything. That’s the buzz. Everyone is very excited about that.