Nvidia Corp.’s annual GTC event has evolved from a developer conference to an industry artificial intelligence trade show with a cultlike atmosphere and incredible momentum, and that trend was starkly apparent this week as more than 16,000 attend in person for the first time in years and as many as 300,000 look on virtually.

That’s according to theCUBE Research analysts John Furrier (pictured, left) and Zeus Kerravala (right), who are both at the event this week in San Jose. AI is just another form of accelerated computing, and nobody does it better than Nvidia, they said.

“It’s all things accelerated computing and that’s really I think the nuance that people miss a lot,” Kerravala said. “So is the high-performance graphics, so is robotics, computer vision, all those things. It’s all wrapped up in AI, but nobody does accelerated computing better than Nvidia.”

Furrier and Kerravala kicked off the GPU Technology Conference during an exclusive segment for theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s roving news desk. They discussed how GTC ’24 is showcasing Nvidia’s leadership in AI and accelerated computing, positioning themselves as the center of the AI universe and aiming to enable AI access to more people through partnerships with cloud providers.

Revolutionizing AI systems

The newly introduced Blackwell AI superchip and NVLink Switch are revolutionizing clustered AI systems, blurring the boundaries between chips and systems and creating a neural network system resembling a data center in a box, Kerravala explained. Nvidia’s AI market play has a focus on building a sizeable ecosystem and taking on more visionary responsibility.

Nvidia’s keynote centered on AI vision and infrastructure, positioning themselves as the leader in a new category, challenging existing incumbents and targeting both developers and enterprises, according to Furrier. Nvidia wants to enable more people to access AI through partnerships with cloud providers, expanding their reach to smaller businesses.

“I think he had a home run with a vision, I’m a big fan of what he’s doing,” Furrier said. “I love his speech. I love what they’re doing. I love this AI system. I like how he called it a new category that’s kind of a shot across the bow, again, to the existing incumbents.”

AI is revolutionizing industries, new software development methods, and the convergence of digital and physical worlds with AI, but the monetization aspect of AI is still unclear, Kerravala explained. Still, Nvidia’s AI Foundry ecosystem is built on the hype of its Retriever engine API.

“I don’t know if the industry though has figured out the modernization aspect of AI. I think Nvidia has,” Kerravala said. But when it gets down to some of the other companies, you look at the contact center companies, the security companies that are trying to use AI to make their products better. When I talk to them about how they’re going to monetize it, they’re not really sure.”

More partner announcements are expected at GTC today, with a focus on sustainability and the impact of GPU-enabled systems on power consumption. Follow our coverage and onsite reporting.

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s ongoing coverage of the GPU Technology Conference:

Photo: SiliconANGLE