Talk between Jensen Huang and Masayoshi Son at the AI Summit… “AI Revolution ‘Big Wave’”
Hwang: “Japan is an important country”…Son: “Opportunity to catch up with AI revolution”
▲Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA. Reuters Yonhap News
Increasing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips market capitalization NVIDIA, an American semiconductor company that is on the verge of reaching $4 trillion, is starting to build a supercomputer together with Japan’s Softbank Group (SBG).
According to Bloomberg News on the 13th (local time), NVIDIA and SBG plan to build an AI supercomputer by applying NVIDIA’s integrated AI platform ‘DGX B200’, which combines a computer processor and AI accelerator chip. A more advanced AI platform, ‘Grace Blackwell’, will be applied in the future.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, who attended the AI Summit hosted by NVIDIA held in Tokyo, Japan on this day, said in a keynote speech, “Japan is establishing itself as a global leader in technological innovation,” and added, “Collaboration with Softbank will be carried out in areas such as communications, transportation, and medicine.” “It will be a stepping stone to lead the AI era in various fields,” he emphasized.
In particular, he evaluated the AI revolution and technological progress as “the opening of a new era,” and expressed expectations for cooperation with Japanese companies, saying, “Japan is an important country.”
In the conversation with Chairman Son that followed, CEO Hwang evaluated the AI revolution as a “big wave” and said, “All industries are being affected (by the AI revolution).”
Accordingly, Chairman Son also showed an active attitude toward providing more support related to AI, saying, “Donations are also necessary to support companies.” SBG is focusing on AI business, including acquiring British semiconductor design company Arm in 2016 and investing in ChatGPT developer OpenAI.
In addition to building a supercomputer, SBG is planning to use NVIDIA equipment to provide AI services through mobile communication networks. The plan is to optimize existing hardware based on chips designed to maximize mobile data traffic to suit the latest AI services.
The new radio access network (AI-RAN) is expected to be more suitable for remote robots, autonomous driving support and other services, as well as reduce power consumption. SBG plans to conduct network testing in cooperation with Japanese company Fujitsu and IBM’s Red Hat.
Chairman Son expressed confidence in Japan’s competitiveness, saying, “We will purchase more Nvidia chips.” He said, “This time, the Japanese government is not hindering the development of AI and robotics,” adding, “This shows a change from the past when companies as well as the government were slow to introduce new technologies.”
He then raised his voice, saying, “This is the moment when we can catch up with the AI revolution,” and “We must not miss this opportunity.”
