Nvidia became the world’s most valuable company by selling the artificial intelligence chips that are used in enormous data centers. Now it’s looking to put its technology in people’s homes.
The chipmaker said on Monday that it had developed a new chip called the RTX Spark that will power laptop and desktop computers from Dell, HP, Microsoft, Lenovo and others. The computers, which will be available this fall, are designed to run local A.I. systems that can sort through files and quickly perform tasks with more privacy and security.
With its push into laptops, Nvidia is the latest tech company seeking to reinvent the computer for the A.I. era. Microsoft and Qualcomm teamed up two years ago to launch the Copilot+ PC, which it said would make it easier to find documents and edit photos. But those computers have struggled to gain traction.
Nvidia is betting its computers will hit the market at the right time, just as A.I. assistants, known as agents, are becoming more popular. The company has been working with Microsoft and laptop makers to allow agents to navigate PCs by autonomously operating the mouse and keyboard like a user.
The PC chip headlined a two-hour showcase of Nvidia’s A.I. products at a computer and electronics conference in Taipei, Taiwan. The company also announced a collaboration on a new robot with the Chinese company Unitree Robotics and a new software system to help customers manage its chips in data centers.
Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive, said an A.I. supercomputer might become a common home appliance in the future, in the way that home theaters, large televisions, lawn mowers and dishwashers are not unusual anymore.
“I could totally imagine someday there’s an A.I. supercomputer in your house,” he said. “It’s running all of your agents, it’s running all your assistants, and they’re doing all kinds of things for you all the time.”
Nvidia’s entrance into the PC market was made possible by the struggles of Microsoft’s longtime partner, Intel. Once the undisputed king of PCs, Intel’s performance slipped in key areas like battery life. In 2021, Microsoft responded by making it possible to run Windows software with Qualcomm, Nvidia and others. Nvidia has also been working with Microsoft for several years on a PC chip.
The PCs that include Nvidia’s chips are designed to appeal to people who develop A.I. systems, play video games and create computer graphics. The company said it would provide details on battery life and other performance metrics in the fall.
It’s unlikely that PCs will lift Nvidia’s business because the A.I. and video game markets for PCs are niches, said Max Weinbach, a technology analyst at Creative Strategies, a tech research firm. But it could allow them to extend the reach of their technology among A.I. developers, which could help their brand and business.
Apple has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the rising demand for A.I. computers. The MacBook Pro, with its highest-performing chips, is popular with A.I. developers. Its Mac Mini, a desktop that features a sizable amount of memory, has also flown off shelves this year because A.I. developers are using the model to host A.I. agents that can send emails and debug software code.
“Apple more or less owns this market today,” Mr. Weinbach said. “Nvidia wants to build a laptop ecosystem for Windows that’s an alternative.”
Nvidia also said it had worked with Unitree, China’s leading robotics firm, on a new humanoid robot. The robot has five-finger hands and stands more than five-feet tall. It is powered by the Nvidia Jetson chip and runs on Nvidia’s A.I. model for robots. It is slated to be available in October.
The robot is designed to be used by universities interested in doing research with humanoids, said Rev Lebaredian, Nvidia’s vice president of physical A.I. “It’s an extremely capable humanoid robot,” he said in a briefing before the event.
The Unitree partnership has the potential to raise concerns in Washington, where lawmakers have been worried that Chinese robots could be used by the People’s Liberation Army. Last year, the House Select Committee on China called for Unitree to be designated a military company. The House Committee on Homeland Security also held a hearing to examine Unitree’s “national security risks.”
Under the partnership, Nvidia said its technology will power the machines, while the robots will be built with Unitree components. It also said data will stay with users and not go back to China.
Nvidia also provided updates on software it had developed to help design data centers. It allows developers to simulate how a data center will be constructed and operated before it’s built, so that they can manage how chips are cooled and power is distributed, said Ian Buck, Nvidia’s vice president of high-performance computing.
This year, the biggest tech companies have committed to spend nearly $1 trillion on data centers. But some of those projects have been delayed by power constraints and pushback from communities.
Mr. Buck said the system would help developers with such challenges by allowing them to coordinate with utility companies to reduce their electricity use on hot days when nearby homes might be using more air conditioning.
Tripp Mickle reports on some of the world’s biggest tech companies, including Nvidia, Google and Apple. He also writes about trends across the tech industry like layoffs and artificial intelligence.
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