Tuesday, September 15th 2020
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang Says NVIDIA-Branded CPUs Could be Coming
It was just yesterday that we have received the news of NVIDIA's latest move - acquiring Arm Ltd. from Softbank Group for $40 billion. However, it seems like there are more reasons for the deal than what meets the eye. In the briefing regarding the acquisition, NVIDIA's CEO was asked a question, by Timothy Prickett Morgan, from TheNextPlatform, about NVIDIA's plans for a possible implementation of Arm's Neoverse core in an NVIDIA-branded CPU design and start selling them to data centers. To that question, Mr. Huang gave a prolonged answer indirectly saying that the company can build the CPU if there is a market for it.
He explains that there is an entire network surrounding the Arm ecosystem and that there may be customers interested in contracting NVIDIA to build them semi-custom or completely custom chip based on Arm ISA on NVIDIA's own interest. Any of these options are available and Mr. Haung says that they are there for the best interest of the ecosystem to enrich it enhance it even further. This means that it is just a matter of time before we see NVIDIA-branded CPU make its way to data-center or some other areas of technology, so we have to wait and see for ourselves.
Source:
Tom's Hardware
He explains that there is an entire network surrounding the Arm ecosystem and that there may be customers interested in contracting NVIDIA to build them semi-custom or completely custom chip based on Arm ISA on NVIDIA's own interest. Any of these options are available and Mr. Haung says that they are there for the best interest of the ecosystem to enrich it enhance it even further. This means that it is just a matter of time before we see NVIDIA-branded CPU make its way to data-center or some other areas of technology, so we have to wait and see for ourselves.
59 Comments on NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang Says NVIDIA-Branded CPUs Could be Coming
In any case, I am sure if they do complete the acquisition, building their own CPU is not unimaginable. Otherwise, I really see no reason for them to buy ARM over to continue the usual sale of IPs to their competitors.
But then I guess some folks would be screaming USA while crapping on any new CPU startup from other countries.
Nvidia must have thought... 'if you can't beat em, BE them'.
Intel must have thought... 'if we want to stay relevant we need datacenter gpu presence'
AMD has always been thinking... 'in what niche can we stay afloat'
Each for their own reasons... the three giants are rapidly conquering the new frontier. Not with new designs, but restructuring the market.
I'm even seeing that shift in how cloud is pushed for gaming. Strategically it isn't aimed at ARM or mobile, but at the same time, they are among the devices that can receive such content. Without any hardware control, you can't control development in that direction too much. But Google, MS, etc. all do want control over their distribution channels. Distribution is becoming everything. The Epic/Apple spat... same thing. Epic/Steam... same. Spotify versus artists complaining they don't make money? Same. The pie is being redivided.
The penny is starting to drop that the device itself is losing relevance and the content plus its delivery (preferably streamed, because then you own NOTHING at any time, ie full control is with the delivery guy) is becoming the market entirely. PC, phone... its just a gateway to it.
That also says something about the future of the consumer market. Powerful hardware will be pushed to niche territory if this trend continues. Welcome, once more, to the mainframe... on a different scale.
I am going to exercise maximum resistance to this shift... Local is the new black, for me ;)
Also although the deal has been agreed between the buyer and the seller, it still has to be approved by several regulators. If I were Huang, I wouldn't be so optimistic.
But now they own the company and its IP they have more freedom and especially money, GPU wise they are the best (with AMD second).
HPC in the future will require both CPUs and GPUs in some combination. (Except for the Fujitsu A64fx, that was weird). Given the trends in supercomputers this past decade, its inevitable to try to merge the two concepts into one conglomerate.
As soon as the deal is finished ARM tech will be considered US Tech.
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www.notebookcheck.net/The-NVIDIA-GeForce-RTX-3080-is-an-Ethereum-mining-monster-overclocked-cards-deliver-nearly-100-MH-s-double-the-Radeon-RX-5700-XT.494246.0.html
Looks like it's going to be "... and they're gone" scenario once again.