Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at the Microsoft Ignite conference on November 19, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois.Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast (AP)
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Another Nvidia (NVDA+4.84%) customer is ready to launch the chipmaker’s highly-anticipated new artificial intelligence platform.
How AI is revolutionizing the way hedge funds pick stocks
Microsoft (MSFT+0.42%) chief executive Satya Nadella announced the first cloud private preview of Nvidia’s Blackwell AI infrastructure on its cloud computing platform, Azure, during the company’s developers’ conference on Tuesday. The Azure ND GB200 V6 VM series is based on the Nvidia Blackwell platform.
“Blackwell is pretty amazing. It’s got this 72 GPUs on a single NVLink domain, and then you combine it with InfiniBand on the backend,” Nadella said during his keynote at Microsoft Ignite. “These racks are optimized for the most cutting-edge training workloads and inference workloads.”
New servers from Microsoft will also be equipped with its new in-house security chipAzure Integrated HSM, or hardware security module, that uses encryption and signing keys for protection.
Meanwhile, Nvidia’s customers reportedly have been worried about delays for the Blackwell AI platform. The chipmaker repeatedly has asked its suppliers to change the design of its custom-designed server racks in recent months because its Blackwell AI chips are overheating when connected, The Information reportedciting unnamed people familiar with the matter. The server racks combine 72 of the AI chips in hopes that larger AI models can be trained faster with more GPUs, or graphics processing units.
“It was functional, but the design flaw caused the yield to be low,” Huang said. “It was 100% Nvidia’s fault.”
Microsoft also introduced new purpose-built AI agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot, including an interpreter agent that allows for real-time interpretation in up to nine languages in Microsoft Teams meetings, which will launch in preview early next year. It also rolled out a project manager agent, now in preview, that can automatically create plans and oversee projects.
In addition, the tech giant launched the autonomous AI agent capabilities that it announced in October. Customers can build their own autonomous agents in Copilot Studio that can “understand the nature of your work and act on your behalf,” Microsoft said.
Guest 1: Neil Wilson, Chief Technology Officer at Hedge Fund Management Firm
Guest 2: Prof. Ramsey Musk, Leading AI Expert and Researcher
Section 1: The Significance of Nvidia’s Blackwell AI Platform and its Impact on the Financial Industry
Interviewer: Can you please share your thoughts on the significance of the Nvidia Blackwell AI platform for the financial industry, especially in terms of hedge funds and stock picking?
Guest 1: As an industry insider, I believe that the Nvidia Blackwell platform has the potential to revolutionize the way hedge funds and other financial institutions approach stock picking. The ability to train and infer with such massive processing power at scale gives us an edge in analyzing large datasets and finding patterns that were previously inaccessible or too time-consuming to identify. This can lead to more informed decisions and potentially higher returns for investors. The fact that Microsoft has adopted this platform to power its Azure cloud computing services further validates its importance and potential impact on the industry.
Guest 2: I agree with Neil’s sentiment. The use of AI in financial services has been growing steadily, and the Nvidia Blackwell platform brings a significant leap forward in terms of performance and efficiency. It’s not just about the raw computational power but also the ability to scale easily and efficiently. This is particularly important for financial firms that rely on real-time analysis and decision-making to stay competitive. The adoption of this technology could also lead to more widespread usage of AI in other industries that require similar levels of processing power and accuracy.
Section 2: Addressing Concerns Over Delays and Design Flaws with the Blackwell AI Platform
Interviewer: There were reports of delays and design flaws with the Blackwell AI platform before its launch. How significant were these issues, and how have they been addressed?
Guest 1: As a customer, it’s always concerning when there are delays or issues with a highly anticipated product like the Blackwell platform. However, Nvidia has proven to be responsive and diligent in addressing these problems. The reported overheating issue was addressed by redesigning the server racks to better dissipate heat, and the delay in
