$NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ and $Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.US)$Executives of Nvidia and AMD showcased the next generation chips that are fueling the worldwide AI surge and deepening competition that shapes the future of AI design and application.

Nvidia CEO, Huang Renxun and AMD CEO, Su Zifeng, delivered speeches at the 2024 Taipei International Computer Show this week.

Huang Renxun emphasized repeatedly that Nvidia, with a market cap of US$2.8 trillion, occupies a leading position in the accelerator field. OpenAI and Microsoft rely on these accelerators to build generative AI services such as ChatGPT. Huang Renxun even revealed that he plans to launch a chip in 2026, which he names Rubin – after Vera Rubin, the American woman who helped discover dark matter. This chip will succeed the Blackwell series and will be a key product for maintaining Nvidia's leadership position.

AMD CEO, Su Zifeng, brought together many well-known partners including HP CEO, Enrique Lores, to convey the company's focus on designing neural processors - chips that can run AI services directly on laptops. Nvidia's market cap is currently about ten times that of AMD.

"People see Nvidia as Huang Renxun's avatar. Although Su Zifeng is AMD's savior, she is very clear that this has to do with everyone around her," said Ian Cutress, chief analyst of consulting firm More Than Moore. "AMD still has weak factors, especially in artificial intelligence."

The speeches of Huang Renxun and Su Zifeng attracted great market attention, highlighting the increasing value of artificial intelligence technology. It may redefine a range of industries and create new devices that can generate video and other content almost immediately with simple commands.

Personal factors are also part of the competition. Huang Renxun and Su Zifeng were both born in a city with a population of about 1.8 million on the south coast of Taiwan, and are distant relatives. This did not make either side more willing to compromise.

Just a few hours before the opening of the Computex conference in Taipei, Huang Renxun gave a speech at the university. He regarded the rise of generative AI as a new industrial revolution and hoped to play an important role in the process of this technology's shift to personal computers. He reiterated his views from a year ago, including the statement that "people without AI capabilities will be eliminated."

AMD 'hardcore' Nvidia.

For AMD or any competitor, Nvidia's continued dominance seems difficult to shake in the short term. A fund manager said that although Huang Renxun did not provide detailed information about the chip to be launched in 2026, it still attracted a lot of attention.

Nvidia sells a completely proprietary system to its customers, who can purchase its chips, networking equipment, and everything needed to run advanced AI development in data centers. On the other hand, AMD claims that its hardware adopts open standards and can interoperate with competitors such as Intel's hardware.

Huang Renxun said that the upcoming Rubin AI platform will use the next-generation high-bandwidth memory HBM4. High-bandwidth memory has become the bottleneck for the production of AI accelerators. The major manufacturer, SK Hynix, has basically sold out its products until 2025. In addition to this, Huang Renxun did not provide detailed information about the upcoming Nvidia products.

"Revealing Rubin and Rubin Ultra is very clever, which shows that Nvidia is committed to updating once a year," said Dan Newman, CEO and chief analyst of the Futurum Group. "I think he emphasized the pace of innovation most clearly, as well as the company's unremitting pursuit of maximizing technical limits, including software, processes, packaging, and partnerships, to protect and expand its moat and market position."

But Su Zifeng has a more extensive and star-studded support team. Also on stage with her was Microsoft's Windows business leader, Pavan Davuluri. It is believed that Microsoft has overtaken Google in the generative artificial intelligence revolution.

Su Zifeng and her partners showcased a new laptop with AI enhanced Copilot+ feature. Most of these upcoming devices are based on neural processing units (NPU), which are more efficient in processing AI tasks and thereby help to extend battery life. Qualcomm is one of the earliest companies to launch Copilot+ PC, but AMD said the device will be available in July. Nvidia does not have a similar product.

At the end of her speech, Su Zifeng reiterated the key competitive areas: data centers and AI training. To match Huang Renxun's annual upgrade schedule, she announced the launch of new AI chips in 2025 and 2026 and promised to accelerate the improvement speed of the company's Semiconductors.

Dave Altavilla, Chief Analyst at HotTech Vision and Analysis, said: "To me, the main difference between the two is that Huang Renxun is not only proficient and visionary in technology, but also a salesperson. Su Zifeng focuses more on execution. They will choose important areas, and data center is clearly a high-profit field."

Edited by Jeffrey