Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang laid out a series of announcements covering an investment in Nokia to meld 6G and AI, quantum computing connectivity with GPUs and a vision to build AI infrastructure as a means for national security.
At Nvidia GTC Washington, Huang laid out a bevy of news items. Nvidia's GTC coincides with Google Cloud's Public Sector Summit in Washington DC. The backdrop of AI competition with China was also hard to avoid.
The need for US-based infrastructure was a big theme as Huang talked about the 6G and AI intersection and an investment in Nokia. Huang said wireless technology is largely deployed on foreign technology. "Our fundamental communication technology, built on foreign technology, and that has to stop — and we have an opportunity to do that," said Huang, who said it's time to get back in the game.
Nvidia is building an AI-native stack for 6G with Nvidia ARC-Pro. Nokia will put Nvidia's wireless AI technology in its future base stations. Nvidia will invest $1 billion in Nokia as a way to layer AI into the transition from 5G to 6G. Nvidia also partnered with Palantir and CrowdStrike and expanded ties with Google Cloud.
In addition, Nvidia said its AI Aerial platform will add multimodal integrate sensing and communications over 6G. Nvidia is also partnering with Booz Allen, Cisco, MITRE, ODC and T-Mobile to build an American AI-RAN stack.
On the quantum front, Nvidia launched NVQLink, a high-speed interconnect that lets quantum processors connect to GPU supercomputers. The company has 17 quantum labs and nine scientific labs in the fold.
According to Nvidia, NVQLink gives quantum computing researchers a system for the control algorithms needed for large-scale quantum error correction. "In the near future, every NVIDIA GPU scientific supercomputer will be hybrid, tightly coupled with quantum processors to expand what is possible with computing," said Huang.
On the manufacturing front, Nvidia also outlined a "mega" Nvidia Omniverse Blueprint to expand libraries for building factory-scale digital twins and physical AI systems for robotics. Nvidia is also working with the U.S. Department of Energy’s national labs to develop AI factory buildouts using Nvidia Omniverse.
The Mega Nvidia Omniverse Blueprint can simulate robot fleets to include technology for designing and simulating factory digital twins.
China vs US provides context
Huang's talk landed as the US and China engage in trade talks. The two sides are also in a middle of an AI battle.
At a panel at Constellation Research's Connected Enterprise, experts noted the following:
- The AI battle between the US and China is really just one front. Bio, quantum and robotics are other areas.
- Depending on how the China and US relationship goes there could be global destabilization.
- Half of the AI researchers are from China.
- China dominates in renewable energy and is leading in nuclear reactor construction to power AI.
- China controls the critical mineral supply chain.
"I think we're trying to handicap a three-dimensional chess game and the rules aren't fully developed. It's a very fluid situation and we're approaching it from different perspectives," said George Chanos, founder and CEO of Uvolution.io. "In my view the US and China are marching towards a finish line of singularity."
The big question is what the No. 2 player will do when there's a winner declared--real or perceived, said Chanos. He added:
"If you have boolean Manhattan Projects you have two players moving towards an end game that they think can give them global supremacy. But that's not going to be a gentlemanly type of endeavor. It's going to get heated, and when number two feels that number one is approaching the finish line, I don't know that number two is going to allow number one to cross that finish line. I think the instability that we're seeing around the world today is in large part due to this looming conflict potential."
Constellation Research CEO R "Ray" Wang noted that China is "basically going after US AI and industrial complex by giving up everything free with open source. We've been in an economic war for the last 15 years."
