Nvidia simply reported a $44 billion quarter. That’s up 69% from a 12 months in the past…
And practically sufficient income to purchase Normal Motors outright.
Its knowledge heart enterprise alone introduced in $39 billion. And regardless of U.S. export restrictions that hit gross sales to China, the corporate posted $18.8 billion in revenue.
However as spectacular as these numbers are, the actual story from Nvidia’s earnings name didn’t come from the corporate’s stability sheet.
It was what CEO Jensen Huang mentioned about Tesla.
As a result of it factors to the place the subsequent trillion-dollar AI alternative would possibly come from…
Huang’s Daring Prediction
Talking with Bloomberg Information final Wednesday, Huang singled out Tesla’s humanoid robotic challenge, Optimus.
Supply: Tesla
He mentioned: “That is the primary robotic that actually has an opportunity to realize the excessive quantity and expertise scale essential to advance expertise.”
I’m on file that the robotic revolution is coming, and that the proliferation of humanoid robots over the subsequent decade goes to come back as a shock to most individuals.
However what Huang mentioned subsequent about Optimus ought to make each investor take discover: “I believe that is more likely to be the subsequent multi-trillion greenback trade.”
That’s a reasonably heady prediction from the man whose chips are powering the whole AI growth.
Microsoft — which has a 49% stake in OpenAI — is shopping for Nvidia chips as quick as Huang could make them.
The corporate mentioned it processed greater than 100 trillion AI tokens final quarter. That’s solely potential due to Nvidia’s highly effective GPUs.
Google, Meta and Amazon are all racing to construct their very own customized AI chips.
However proper now, they nonetheless want Nvidia.
The corporate has turn into important to the worldwide tech stack. And that places Huang in a novel place.
Since he’s supplying the instruments to advance AI, he’s capable of spot developments and make daring bets about what comes subsequent.
That’s why Nvidia invested in Utilized Digital Corp (NASDAQ: APLD), which builds knowledge facilities for patrons.
And why the corporate additionally owns shares of Arm Holdings (NASDAQ: ARM), which helps semiconductor firms design superior computing chips.
And it’s why I’m maintaining an in depth eye on Tesla and Optimus.
Elon Musk says Tesla is already constructing Optimus models at its Fremont facility. The short-term aim is to deploy 1000’s of those robots in Tesla’s personal factories by the tip of subsequent 12 months.
However Musk’s long-term aim is way larger. He desires to provide 1,000,000 Optimus models a 12 months by 2030.
Proper now, Optimus can stroll, stack containers and carry out primary duties. It’s nonetheless clunky and lurches when it walks. It’s type of like watching the primary iPhone attempt to load a YouTube video over 2G.
However as anybody who’s adopted Tesla — or Apple — is aware of, you may’t decide a expertise by its first model.
We’re nonetheless firstly of the curve for humanoid robotics, however this curve will quickly bend up because the expertise improves.
Identical to what’s occurring with AI.
Supply: ml-science.com
If Tesla can ship even a fraction of what it’s promising, it might upend total sectors…
Logistics, elder care, retail, hospitality and even private companionship might all quickly be dealt with by humanoid robots like Optimus.
How large might this get?
Analysts at Goldman Sachs assume humanoid robots could possibly be a $38 billion market by 2035.
Morgan Stanley places the potential nearer to $4.7 trillion a 12 months by 2050.
That’s a variety. However even when we land on the low finish, it might mark a seismic shift within the financial system.
Right here’s My Take
I don’t at all times agree with Jensen Huang. However when he talks, I pay attention.
In spite of everything, he has efficiently pivoted Nvidia a number of instances. He was proper about GPU acceleration. He’s been proper about knowledge heart acceleration.
And now he’s pointing to humanoid robots as the subsequent tech frontier. A world the place labor isn’t constrained by folks.
Tesla is constructing the type of AI-native, vertically built-in robotic platform that nobody else can match at scale.
However Optimus doesn’t simply signify the way forward for labor. It additionally represents a possible acceleration within the improvement of AI.
You see, each time Optimus picks up a field, navigates a hallway or adapts to a brand new job, it generates real-world knowledge.
This knowledge is pure gold for coaching AI methods.
As a result of it’s one factor to simulate intelligence in a lab, it’s one other factor completely to study immediately from bodily interplay in the actual world.
We don’t actually know but what it can take to realize synthetic superintelligence (ASI). But it surely would possibly take one thing past larger language fashions and extra compute.
It’d take grounding AI within the messy, bodily world.
Robots like Optimus function a type of sensory interface between machine studying and actuality.
And Tesla has a large head begin on this space as a result of it already has hundreds of thousands of autos gathering real-time driving knowledge.
In different phrases, Tesla has already constructed one of many world’s largest real-world reinforcement studying networks.
And now it will possibly carry that very same data-driven philosophy to humanoid robotics, making a loop the place every robotic learns from each different robotic’s expertise.
That type of networked intelligence could possibly be the lacking piece that pushes AI from slim to common.
And THAT’S why I consider Huang is so bullish on Optimus.
Regards,
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