AFTER A COUPLE decades of software eating the world, the "silicon" part of Silicon Valley is back. It turns out, it takes hard-core hardware-lots of it to bring the wonders of generative AI to life, and chipmaker Nvidia has seized the moment with its powerful graphics processors to become the market's reigning champ.
Demand for Nvidia's AI-friendly processors is so strong that in May, investors awarded the company a stock market valuation above $1 trillion, roughly on par with the GDP of Saudi Arabia last year. Chips certainly have the potential to become as vital as oil in an AI-driven economy-but in the fast-moving tech business, even a market leader can't sit back and rely on proven reserves to prolong its primacy.
For Jensen Huang, Nvidia's leather-jacket-wearing CEO, the most serious threat comes from a crosstown chipmaker armed with a unique combination of graphics-processing prowess and a corporate identity forged by years of taking on giants. Led by Lisa Su, AMD is aiming to take a sizable chunk of the AI chip market and, as the AI revolution unfolds, even to displace Nvidia as industry leader.
"I think this is an opportunity for us to write the next chapter of the AMD growth story," Su told Fortune in a mid-September interview. "There are so few companies in the world that have access to the [intellectual property] that we have and the customer set that we have, and the opportunity frankly to really shape how AI is adopted across the world. I feel like we have that opportunity."
Esta historia es de la edición October - November 2023 de Fortune US.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición October - November 2023 de Fortune US.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
KKR'S $1 TRILLION GAMBLE
The co-CEOs of KKR have a radical strategy to supercharge growth - and chart a path far different from that of their mentors, Henry Kravis and George Roberts.
THE SHIPWRECKED LEGACY OF MIKE LYNCH
THE BRITISH TECH MOGUL SOLD HIS COMPANY FOR $11 BILLION, THEN SPENT YEARS FIGHTING FRAUD CHARGES. HIS SHOCKING DEATH HAS LEFT MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS LIFE.
FORTUNE - CHANGE THE WORLD
THESE COMPANIES BUILD BUSINESSES AROUND SOLVING SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND THEY DO WELL BY DOING GOOD.
Can Cathy Engelbert Handle the Pressure?
The WNBA commissioner and ex-Deloitte CEO is leading the league through a season of historic highs, but critics wonder if her game plan is good enough to seize the moment.
Kamalanomics: Harris's Road Map for Business
Vice President Kamala Harris hasn't done much to woo Big Business. Many executives would still rather take their chances with her than the alternative.
Mary Barra
The CEO of General Motors accelerates into our top spot.
MPW - MOST POWERFUL WOMEN 2024
WHEN FORTUNE launched its Most Powerful Women list in 1998, women were just starting to trickle into the C-suite in significant numbers.
WHO HAS TIME FOR A POWER LUNCH? THE REAL BUSINESS HAPPENS AT 4 P.M. 'POWER HOUR.'
THE SUN is pouring in through the floor-to-ceiling windows when the bar begins to fill with bespoke suits on a Tuesday in August at Four Twenty Five. The new restaurant from Jean-Georges Vongerichten is on the first floor of a Midtown Manhattan skyscraper, beneath the offices of financial giant Citadel Securities. And the traders are thirsty.
HOW TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE FED'S BIG RATE CUT
THE WAIT IS OVER. After more than a year of will-they-or-won't-they, the Federal Reserve on Sept. 18 announced the first cut to its benchmark Federal funds rate since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, a 50-basis-point drop that Chairman Jerome Powell signaled is likely the first of many.
FOR GEN Z AT WORK, THE GENERATION GAP IS A WELLNESS GAP. HERE'S HOW TO BRIDGE IT
FOR ONE nonprofit executive director, it was a 2022 New York City subway shooting that highlighted the stark differences between how he, a 55-year-old, and his Gen Z staffers show up to work.