Nvidia Corp is in a “unique” position in the market, despite facing intensifying competition, chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said during a brief visit to Taiwan yesterday amid a potentially growing challenge from Google for the artificial intelligence (AI) chip market.
Huang told reporters that the AI market is “extremely large” and that while there is a lot of competition, Nvidia’s “condition is very strong and our position is very unique.”
Huang, who arrived in Taipei on Thursday, was responding to questions about the possible threat posed by Google.
Photo: CNA
According to a report in The Information on Tuesday, Meta has been in talks to spend billions of US dollars to buy tensor processing units (TPUs) from Google, which would turn the search engine into a rival of Nvidia, currently the dominant global player in AI chips.
That report sent Nvidia shares plunging the same day, although they have since recovered.
TPUs, which are tailored chips, are highly efficient in AI applications and could give Google an edge over competitors such as Nvidia, as TPUs are cheaper than Nvidia’s graphics processing units (GPUs), the report said.
“We just have to keep running very fast” to maintain Nvidia’s lead in the market in response to the competition, Huang said.
Huang also addressed a report in Business Insider on a meeting at Nvidia on Tuesday in which the CEO blasted some managers for telling their subordinates to use less AI.
The publication quoted Huang as asking them: “Are you insane?”
Huang yesterday said that every Nvidia engineer was using AI, and he reminded them that every department and function of the company should use AI.
No specific reason was given by the company for Huang’s stay in Taiwan, but Huang told reporters he visited Morris Chang (張忠謀), founder of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), on Thursday and said the 94-year-old Chang was in “terrific” shape.
Huang said he would leave Taipei for the US later yesterday and had no plans to meet with Taiwanese suppliers during the trip.
The latest visit marked Huang’s second trip to Taiwan this month.
On Nov. 7, he went to TSMC’s fab in the Southern Taiwan Science Park to survey the chipmaker’s 3-nanometer process production lines.
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