Nvidia and Softbank team up to build new AI supercomputer
Nvidia announced its partnership with Softbank to build a Blackwell-powered AI supercomputer, as Japan seeks to get ahead in the AI arms race.
Chip behemoth Nvidia has revealed a partnership with the Japanese tech giant Softbank to build an AI supercomputer, furthering its position in the AI arms race.
The supercomputer will be powered by Nvidia’s Blackwell chips and will support AI projects for multiple research centres, education systems and government facilities.
“With SoftBank’s significant investment in Nvidia’s full-stack AI, Omniverse and 5G AI-RAN platforms, Japan is leaping into the AI industrial revolution to become a global leader, driving a new era of growth across the telecommunications, transportation, robotics and healthcare industries in ways that will greatly benefit humankind in the age of AI,” Nvidia’s chief executive Jensen Huang said.
Junichi Miyakawa, president and chief executive of Softbank, added “countries and regions worldwide are accelerating the adoption of AI for social and economic growth” and “society is undergoing significant transformation.”
Huang’s supercomputer announcement formed part of a series of wider collaborations between both firms, under which he revealed that Softback will also use its AI accelerated computing platform, Aerial, to pilot the first 5G and AI combined telecom network.
This would open AI revenue streams which could generate billions of dollars to telecom providers globally.
At its AI summit on Wednesday, Nvidia announced that following the launch of the new computer, it will use its latest Grace Blackwell chips to refine and advance its future models.
The chip maker’s products have seen demand for its products skyrocket over the past two years as tech firms scramble to get ahead in the AI arms race.
Revenues at the firm came in at $32.5bn (£25.5bn) in its most recent set of numbers, marginally above analysts’ consensus of $31.77bn (£ £24.9bn).
Nvidia recently dethroned Apple as the world’s most valuable company, as it hit a market capitalisation of $3.43t (£2.666) last week, fuelled by demand for its AI chips.
Shares in Nvidia rose 1.5 per cent on Wednesday, while Softbank’s dropped slightly by three per cent.
