Running discussion on SP, page-3932

AUST Online:
Demand to power the “AI revolution” is set to create the first chip company with a stock market value of $US1 trillion ($1.54 trillion).

Shares in Nvidia, the Silicon Valley group founded by a Taiwanese-American billionaire, surged by a quarter to fresh highs on Wall Street, putting it on the cusp of the landmark valuation after it issued “blowout” guidance for its second quarter on Wednesday night.
By the close in New York on Thursday, the stock had leapt by 24.4 per cent, or $US74.42, to $US379.80 valuing the company at about $US939 billion…..

…..Nvidia has positioned itself at the centre of the race to develop artificial intelligence tools by becoming the main source of chips behind chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGP…..

….The production of Nvidia’s chips is handled by contract manufacturers, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world’s largest, shares of which also rose in New York, adding 13.1 per cent to $US101.95 at lunchtime on Thursday. Nvidia has sought to get ahead of the expected surge in demand by making specialised chips for AI customers and Huang said the company was “significantly increasing our supply”. It started full production of its latest AI chips in August last year, giving it some leeway in supplies when the popularity of chatbot apps took off.

The surge in demand comes amid a power struggle over chips between Washington and Beijing. The Biden administration has introduced American export controls to slow Chinese semiconductor manufacturing.

Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, who is reported to be building an artificial intelligence start-up, has said that they are “considerably harder to get than drugs”.
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