Nvidia unveils flagship AI chip, the B200, aiming to extend dominance

investing.com:

By Max A. Cherney and Stephen Nellis

SAN JOSE, California (Reuters) -Artificial-intelligence semiconductor powerhouse Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) unveiled a flagship AI chip, the Blackwell B200, as Chief Executive Jensen Huang kicked off the company's annual developer conference on Monday.

Nvidia's new chip and software announcements at GTC 2024 will help determine whether the company can maintain its leadership position as the dominant seller of the tools needed to fuel the past year's frenzy around AI. Nvidia dominates the data center AI chip market, capturing roughly an 80% share last year.

«I hope you realize this is not a concert,» Huang, wearing his trademark black leather jacket, said after taking the stage, in a nod to the rising profile of his company.

The B200 takes two chips the size of Nvidia's previous offering and binds them together into a single chip.

The new chip has 208 billion transistors, more than double the 80 billion on the company's previous chip. All of those transistors can access the memory attached to the chip at nearly the same time, improving productivity.

«The launch of 'Blackwell' means Nvidia will capture even more capex dollars than its previous 'Hopper' generation GPU. We expect Nvidia will continue to not only lead but will widen the gap to its competitors in AI,» Kinngai Chan, managing director and senior research analyst at Summit Insights, said after the announcement.

Insider Intelligence analyst Jacob Bourne said Nvidia could solidify its AI dominance. «However, rivals like AMD, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), startups, and even Big Tech's own chip aspirations threaten to chip away at Nvidia's market share, particularly among cost-conscious enterprise customers,» he said.

Nvidia said major