Nvidia Unveils Gaming Chips, Desktop Computer to Protect AI Lead

Nvidia's chief executive officer Jensen Huang has announced a raft of new chips, software and services, aiming to stay at the forefront of artificial intelligence (AI) computing.

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Mr. Huang took the stage at a packed arena in Las Vegas to kick off the Consumer Electronics Show on Jan. 6 and present the new line-up, offering a vision for how AI will spread throughout the economy. The company wants its products to be the heart of a future tech world with a billion humanoid robots, 10 million automated factories, and 1.5 billion self-driving cars and trucks.

Interest in Nvidia's products and Mr. Huang's forecasts has exploded as companies rush to deploy new AI computing gear. The CEO outlined Nvidia's products and strategy to his audience of hundreds for more than 90 minutes, including tie-ups with Toyota Motor and MediaTek that sent their shares more than 3 percent higher.

Even before Mr. Huang's presentation, shares in Asian chipmaking suppliers surged on optimism about the prospects of Nvidia, whose stock had just hit a fresh all-time high. Microsoft had in the prior week announced plans to spend US$80 billion (S$109 billion) on its AI data-center build-out, much of which will be spent with Nvidia.

Before his main pitch about technology destined for data centers, Mr. Huang offered up some advances for his traditional audience: gamers. Nvidia is launching an update to its GeForce GPUs — short for graphics processing units — which were created with the same Blackwell design that the company uses in its AI accelerators.