Sign up to save tools and stay up to date with the latest in AI
bg
bg
1

NVIDIA's GPUs powered the AI revolution. Its new Blackwell chips are up to 30 times faster

Mar 19, 2024 - engadget.com
NVIDIA has announced a next-generation platform called Blackwell, whose chips are up to 30 times faster and use 25 times less power than its H100 chips. The H100 chips are used by nearly every AI company globally and have made NVIDIA one of the world's most valuable companies. The Blackwell chips, named after mathematician David Harold Blackwell, offer a significant performance upgrade to AI companies, with speeds of 20 petaflops compared to the H100's 4 petaflops. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang described the Blackwell GPUs as the engine to power the new Industrial Revolution.

The Blackwell chips contain 208 billion transistors, compared to the H100's 80 billion, achieved by connecting two large chip dies that can communicate at speeds up to 10 terabytes per second. Several CEOs, including those from OpenAI, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, Google DeepMind, Oracle, Dell, and Tesla, have praised NVIDIA's hardware for AI. NVIDIA has not disclosed the cost of the Blackwell chips, but its H100 chips currently cost between $25,000 and $40,000 per chip. Despite the high cost, NVIDIA's chips are in high demand, with delivery wait times last year reaching up to 11 months.

Key takeaways:

  • NVIDIA has announced a next-generation platform called Blackwell, whose chips are significantly faster and more power-efficient than the previous H100 chips.
  • The Blackwell chips are named after mathematician David Harold Blackwell and are claimed by NVIDIA to be the world's most powerful chip, offering a significant performance upgrade to AI companies.
  • Several CEOs of major tech companies, including OpenAI, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, Google DeepMind, Oracle, Dell, and Tesla, have praised NVIDIA's hardware for AI, indicating the importance of NVIDIA's chips in the modern AI revolution.
  • Despite their high cost, NVIDIA's chips are in high demand, with delivery wait times last year reaching up to 11 months, and access to NVIDIA's AI chips is increasingly seen as a status symbol for tech companies looking to attract AI talent.
View Full Article

Comments (0)

Be the first to comment!