Corporate AI Investment Is Surging, to Nvidia’s Benefit

livemint.com:

The blockbuster earnings report last week from chip maker Nvidia proved that companies are willing to spend big for artificial intelligence. In corporate settings, that money is often allocated directly from the top. Unlike previous waves of innovation that were funded by information-technology departments’ internal budgets, some companies are setting up allocations just for AI.

The money is often earmarked by the chief executive officer, a sign that using the technology is a priority at the highest level. Nvidia’s chips underpin all of the most advanced AI systems, giving the company a market share estimated at more than 80%. The strength of the AI boom was on full display Wednesday, when the company reported sales of $22.1 billion for the quarter that ended Jan.

28 and forecast $24 billion for its current quarter, each more than triple that of the year-earlier periods and ahead of Wall Street’s bullish expectations. Much demand is coming from tech companies, which use Nvidia’s GPUs, or graphics processing units, to build the physical infrastructure for AI that supports surging demand from corporate customers. But as Nvidia’s Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress noted, “Building and deploying AI solutions has reached virtually every industry." Eli Lilly Chief Information and Digital Officer Diogo Rau said he felt the enthusiasm for the technology during the drugmaker’s annual budget-planning cycle.

“I walked out of there with twice as much money from my boss and the rest of the executive committee because everybody wanted to get invested in AI," he said. Rau, who reports directly to the CEO, said the company set up a pool of money just for funding AI initiatives. He serves as a sort of trustee for how it is doled out,