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Windows Central

Technology

Kevin Okemwa

NVIDIA CEO says a shortage of its advanced AI chips prompts 'emotional turmoil': "We have a lot of people on our shoulders, and everybody is counting on us"

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What you need to know

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang recently appeared at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Technology Conference, speaking about the high GPU demand for AI advances, its impact on the job market, and more.
The chipmaker's valuation recently tanked with analysts referring to it as the biggest single-day drop in history, after briefly becoming the world's most valuable company ahead of Microsoft and Apple.
Jensen Huang predicts that the AI revolution will evolve to more than data centers and chatbots.

With the rapid emergence of the AI bubble, major tech corporations, including Microsoft, Apple, and Google have been hopping onto the bandwagon face-first to drive more profitability. These companies have found their niche in the fairly new landscape but at an exorbitant cost.

Google and Microsoft's AI ventures consume more electricity than 100 countries. Elon Musk indicated we're on the verge of the biggest technological breakthrough with AI, but there won't be enough electricity to power its advance by 2025. Similarly, AI consumes ridiculous amounts of cooling water.

Despite the overreliance and dependence of companies like Microsoft on NVIDIA's GPUs for training AI models, the chip maker recently suffered the biggest single-day drop in history — months after becoming the most valuable company in the world ahead of Microsoft and Apple. Investors have also started raising concerns as the money invested in AI ventures doesn't match the returns, making it difficult to establish a clear path to profitability.

NVIDIA CEO on tanking AI hype, high GPU demand, and future job market

NVIDIA RTX 4070 (Image credit: Harish Jonnalagadda / Windows Central)

While speaking to Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Technology Conference, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang says the company won't be letting up anytime soon:

“We have a lot of people on our shoulders, and everybody is counting on us. Demand is so great that delivery of our components, our technology, infrastructure, and software is really emotional for people. Because it directly affects their revenues, it directly affects their competitiveness.”

Huang says generative AI is still in its early days, but predicts it will evolve to more than AI chatbots and data centers. The executive also used the opportunity to comment on how the technology affects the job market, specifically coding.

According to Huang:

“I think the days of every line of code being written by software engineers, those are completely over. The idea that every one of our software engineers will essentially have companion digital engineers 24/7 — that’s the future.”

Huang admits that generative AI is an expensive investment. Recently, OpenAI was reportedly on the brink of bankruptcy under 12 months, with projections of $5 billion in losses. Experts and market analysts indicated that only another round of funding would help keep its business afloat.

Microsoft, Apple, and NVIDIA will reportedly hop into the fray and participate in OpenAI's round of funding, pushing its market cap well beyond $100 billion. A new report suggests OpenAI is reportedly in talks to raise $6.5 billion from investors, pushing its market capitalization to approximately $150 billion. The startup also wants to raise $5 billion in debt from a few banks.

“One of the takeaways there is AI isn’t just about training the model, of course; that’s just the first step,” Huang added. “It’s about using the model. And so when you use the model, you save enormous amounts of time — processing time.”

As the AI revolution happens right before our eyes, Huang says "The part that's really intense is just the world on our shoulders." The CEO indicated he didn't mind spending more hours at work to satisfy the high demand for technology to foster AI advances. “Less sleep is fine. Three solid hours is all we need.”

Contextually, NVIDIA employees reportedly work round the clock week-long and leave the office at 2 AM, but the compromise comes with lavish pay and compensation packages.