Important points
- Nvidia will kick off its annual GPU Technology Conference (GTC) on Monday with a keynote address from founder and CEO Jensen Huang.
- Industry leaders such as OpenAI, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are expected to attend GTC, potentially shedding further light on Nvidia's artificial intelligence (AI) efforts and partnerships.
- Nvidia is expected to provide details on the B100 Blackwell, which could be the most capable AI GPU ever, including pricing, performance, and demand.
- Chipmakers could also provide further insight into their own sovereign AI efforts, as data sharing has come under the spotlight as the U.S. government focuses on China's ByteDance and TikTok.
Nvidia (NVDA) will kick off its annual GPU Technology Conference (GTC) on Monday with a keynote address from founder and CEO Jensen Huang.
Analysts expect chipmakers to share updates on new products, partnerships with industry leaders, sovereign artificial intelligence (AI) efforts and more during the conference, which runs through Thursday.
Latest information on the next AI chip, B100 Blackwell
The chipmaker is expected to provide more details about its B100 chip, which could be the most capable AI GPU ever.
The B100 chip is an upgrade from the H200 chip and is expected to launch sometime in 2024, based on Nvidia's development roadmap released in October 2023.
According to TrendForce, “NVIDIA's current flagship H200 chip in the high-performance computing market features the Hopper GPU architecture combined with HBM3e memory chips and is considered the industry's most capable chip for AI computing. I am.”
Investors will get new details about the chip, including price, performance and demand. Nvidia could also offer more colors for the chip's hardware, such as liquid cooling components and DRAM memory.
Wedbush analysts said, “NVDA's new Blackwell architecture is expected to deliver significant performance improvements over Hopper,” adding, “NVDA expects the H100 to deliver up to “We announced that we will deliver twice as fast training and 30 times faster inference performance.”
Analysts at Wedbush said, “In terms of the initial demand the company expects for the next B100, which management has already characterized as initially expected to significantly exceed supply capacity, We are interested in any additional information NVDA chooses to provide.”
They added that the company is looking at “any increments regarding NVDA's future GPU and AI products beyond the 2025 roadmap that NVDA has previously presented.”
AI leaders gather
Other AI leaders are also expected to attend the conference, potentially providing investors with more information about the AI space in general and the role Nvidia's technology plays.
Nvidia partners include OpenAI, Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), Google parent company Alphabet (GOOGL), Meta (META), Micron Technology (MU), Oracle (ORCL), Super Micro Computer (SMCI), Dell (DELL ), Intel (INTC) and others will be participating in events and workshops during GTC.
While Nvidia established itself as an early leader in the AI race, companies within its AI ecosystem have benefited from the surge in demand for AI technology.
Bank of America analysts said they will measure the “impact of increased competition from custom chips” affecting companies such as Broadcom (AVGO) and Marvell (MRVL).
The conference could also shed light on competition within the merchant silicon market between Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Google. Bank of America noted that silicon chip makers claim their products are “less expensive (particularly for AI inference) and/or lower cost (30-50% less than comparable NVDA hardware).”
Nvidia’s Sovereign AI Initiatives
As the scope of AI technology rapidly expands, Nvidia may share details about its sovereign AI efforts during the conference.
Bank of America analysts said they expect NVDA to “highlight opportunities for TAM expansion beyond the big four U.S. hyperscalers: Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta.”
They added that “Tier-2/3 web scalers (CoreWeave, Lambda Labs)” and “sovereign states” could create a multi-billion dollar opportunity for NVIDIA.
Nvidia said sovereign AI “refers to the ability of nations to use their own infrastructure, data, workforce, and business networks to create artificial intelligence.”
Nvidia has been vocal about its commitment to sovereign AI. This stance could help differentiate Nvidia, especially amid concerns about potential national security risks related to data sharing. The US government is considering forcing China's ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban on the app in the US.
Ahead of the GTC, Bank of America analysts raised their price target on Nvidia from $925 to $1,100, and Wedbush analysts raised their price target from $850 to $1,000. Both companies gave NVIDIA a “buy” rating.
About 15 minutes after the opening bell on Monday, Nvidia stock rose 4.5% to $917.45. The stock price has increased about 90% since the beginning of the year.
Updated – March 18, 2024: This article has been updated since initial publication to include current stock price information.
