Nvidia President and CEO Jensen Huang said the company will be upgrading its AI accelerators annually, with the Blackwell Ultra processor coming in 2025 and a next-generation platform called Rubin that is still in development planned for 2026. Rubin AI will utilize a type of high-bandwidth memory called HBM4 that addresses a bottleneck that has stifled the production of AI accelerators. Huang shared the news from Taiwan, where he delivered a keynote at the Computex trade show. Nvidia Inference Microservices were another focus, allowing AI applications to be deployed in minutes instead of weeks, Huang said. Continue reading Nvidia Teases Next-Gen AI Platform Rubin at Computex 2024

At Computex Taipei this week, AMD revealed its AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series third generation of AI-enabled mobile processors for next-generation laptops. It joins Intel’s upcoming Lunar Lake and the Snapdragon X platform from Qualcomm among the chips vying for a place in the exploding market for artificial intelligence processing, an area dominated by Nvidia. However, with AI PCs and laptops just hitting the market that field is somewhat in play. The Ryzen AI 300s are among those that will be used to power laptops equipped with Microsoft Copilot+ AI. At Computex, AMD also unveiled its Ryzen 9000 Series processors for desktop PCs. Continue reading AMD Unveils Its Next-Gen AI Chips in Battle for Market Share

Big Tech players have joined forces to develop a new industry standard to advance high-speed and low latency communication among data centers by coordinating component development. AMD, Broadcom, Cisco, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Intel, Meta Platforms and Microsoft are backing the Ultra Accelerator Link (UALink) promoter group. The group plans to define and establish an open industry standard that will enable AI accelerators to communicate more effectively. The UALink aims to create a pathway for system OEMs, IT professionals and system integrators to connect and scale their AI-connected data centers. Continue reading Big Tech Forms a Group to Develop AI Connectivity Standard

Microsoft is debuting a new category of Windows PCs optimized for artificial intelligence. Called Copilot+ PCs, the tech giant is initially introducing it on Surface devices and through OEMs Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo and Samsung. Availability begins June 18, with pre-orders starting now at prices of $999 and up. Microsoft says the new architeccture powers “the fastest, most intelligent Windows PCs ever built,” with silicon capable of 40+ TOPS (trillion operations per second) as well as “all–day battery life and access to the most advanced AI models.” The company describes this new wave of PCs as “just the beginning.” Continue reading Microsoft Pivots Windows to AI OS, Launching Copilot+ PCs

Masayoshi Son, CEO of Japan’s SoftBank, wants to transform the tech conglomerate’s Arm subsidiary into an AI powerhouse, and he is investing $64 billion (10 trillion yen) to implement the plan, which includes turning the UK-based unit into an AI chip supplier. Son announced that by spring 2025 Arm is expected to have its first prototype, followed by mass production by contract suppliers and commercial sales in the fall. Arm designs but does not manufacture circuitry, supplying what it calls “chip architecture” to customers including Nvidia and Qualcomm. Continue reading SoftBank’s Arm Plans to Supply AI Chips, Open Data Centers

Pursuant to his goal of “building the world’s leading AI,” Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Friday that Meta AI is upgrading to Llama 3 concurrent with a rollout of its open-source chatbot across the company’s social platforms, integrating it into the search boxes atop WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Messenger. There is also a website, meta.ai, for those who prefer browser access. Reports of Meta upgrading its social AI capabilities began leaking out early last week, albeit on a more limited test scale than what Zuckerberg announced, which, excepting Threads, is cross-platform. Continue reading Meta AI Assistant Is Launching Across Platforms with Llama 3

Microsoft is making improvements to the way its Copilot AI assistant works in Microsoft Teams and is using artificial intelligence to further integrate hybrid meetings. As the company leans deeper into AI, it continues to push hardware manufacturers to build an AI-optimized PC, making sure to include a dedicated Microsoft Copilot key. Microsoft joins Intel, Qualcomm and AMD in championing purpose-built AI PCs. In the meantime, the tech giant continues to build out features for existing PCs. The company is adding new ways to tap into the Copilot tool for meetings, chats, summaries and more. Continue reading Microsoft Improves Meetings and Messaging with Copilot, AI

Nvidia is investing $30 billion in a new business unit focused on custom chips for high-performance computing. The company already controls about 80 percent of the advanced chip market but wants to avoid losing ground as alternatives spring up. Alphabet, AWS, Intel and AMD market high-end processors to third-parties, and Meta is expected to begin deploying its own Artemis AI chips this year. Nvidia has had discussions with Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI about helping them create bespoke chips and is also talking to automakers, cloud service providers (CSPs) and telecom companies, according to reports. Continue reading Nvidia to Launch Unit Devoted to Building Custom HPC Chips

Further insights into OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s global fundraising effort for a multi-billion dollar computer chip venture now appears to be toward a goal establishing a network of semiconductor plants to manufacture AI chips, according to media reports. The plan would see the 38-year-old entering a hotly competitive yet underserved field, dominated by Nvidia and increasingly Intel, AMD and Qualcomm. Apparently, he feels the existing players aren’t set up to produce the amount of chips required to meet the goals of OpenAI and others through 2030, now that many businesses incorporate AI into workflows and consumer products. Continue reading Altman Is Seeking Billions in Global Funding for AI Chip Plants

Taiwanese tech powerhouse MSI (Micro-Star International) has a new handheld gaming device called the Claw that uses an Intel Core Ultra 5 or 7 chip and Intel Arc graphics, making it among the most powerful portable PC gaming devices on the market. The device breaks from tradition, as competing mobile game units like the Steam Deck, the Asus ROG Ally and the Lenovo Legion Go all use AMD chipsets. The MSI system — demonstrated at CES 2024 in Las Vegas — is expected to be priced between $699 to $799 in a trio of configurations when it hits the market in February or March. Continue reading CES: MSI Claw Is First Gaming Handheld with Intel Core Ultra

Samsung Electronics has unveiled three new matte-finish, anti-glare Odyssey OLED gaming monitors in the lead-up to this week’s CES 2024 in Las Vegas. The new tech is part of a trend toward bigger, faster QD-OLED gaming monitors that will pave the way for greater nuance and realism for game content creators in addition to heightening the experiential factor for players. The new Samsung displays include an updated Odyssey OLED G9 — a 49-inch curved ultra-wide gaming monitor with DQHD (5,120 x 1,440) resolution, a 32:9 aspect ratio and other upgraded features. Continue reading CES: Samsung Demos Odyssey QD-OLED Gaming Monitors

Intel formally launched its new Core Ultra CPUs and related products this week at its AI Everywhere event. The company shared new solutions ranging from the data center to the cloud edge and PC. Intel’s new mobile processors are part of its Meteor Lake lineup, all of which will now bear the Ultra imprimatur instead of the “I,” promising greater power efficiency and performance. At the New York City event, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said “AI innovation is poised to raise the digital economy’s impact up to as much as one-third of global gross domestic product.” Continue reading Intel Unveils AI-Driven Chips to Compete with Nvidia and AMD

Samsung Display has revealed plans to begin mass production on a new type of monitor with ultra-high-definition resolution of 3840×2160 pixels. Samsung says this is the highest pixel density and UHD resolution among available OLED monitors, and that the display also offers super-fast response speed to thrill gamers. The new QD-OLED monitors will initially be offered in two sizes: 32 inches and 27 inches. Typically, 30-inch QHD monitors offer 2560×1440 pixels, which Samsung says is fine for “general-purpose” use, adding that “consumers who enjoy gaming and high-definition video content will have a strong preference for UHD products.” Continue reading Samsung’s New QD-OLED Monitor Called a ‘Game Changer’

AMD is coming to market with a new slate of chips optimized for artificial intelligence, including the AMD Instinct MI300 Series data center AI accelerators, ROCm 6 open software stack with new features for large language models, and Ryzen 8040 Series processors with Ryzen AI. The new offerings have received a welcome reception from customers including Microsoft, Oracle, Meta Platforms and Dell, among others that can benefit from building a strong network of suppliers of AI chips. The market is currently dominated by Nvidia, which is challenged to meet existing demand. Continue reading AMD’s New AI Chips Get Welcome Reception from Enterprise

IBM and Meta Platforms have launched the AI Alliance, a coalition of companies and educational institutions committed to responsible, transparent development of artificial intelligence. The group launched this week with more than 50 global founding participants from industry, startup, academia, research and government. Among the members and collaborators: AMD, CERN, Cerebras, Cornell University, Dell Technologies, Hugging Face, Intel, Linux Foundation, NASA, Oracle, Red Hat, Sony Group, Stability AI, the University of Tokyo and Yale Engineering. The group’s stated purpose is “to support open innovation and open science in AI.” Continue reading IBM and Meta Debut AI Alliance for Safe Artificial Intelligence