If there's one stock that shows the potential to profit from artificial intelligence (AI), it's this one. Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA). The company pioneered graphics processing units (GPUs) that render lifelike images in video games. What makes these chips so effective is the parallelism that takes computationally complex jobs and breaks them into smaller, more manageable chunks. Nvidia was able to adapt this technology to deal with the rigors of AI, making it perhaps the most successful company in the AI ​​chip space.
But as the demand for AI accelerates, many technology heavyweights have been hard at work behind the scenes to come up with viable alternatives to industry-leading Nvidia's processors. There were a number of announcements this week as rival companies announced the results of these efforts.
Let's look at three.
1. Intel
Early this week, intel (NASDAQ:INTC) To directly challenge Nvidia's GPU dominance, it announced its latest AI chip called Gaudi 3. According to the company, Gaudi can train AI models almost twice as fast as his Nvidia H100, and in inference it is 50% faster and runs already trained AI models. can. According to Intel, the Gaudi he delivered all that performance “at a fraction of the cost” with 40% better power efficiency than the H100, the company also says.
It's important to note that Nvidia recently announced the H100's successor, the Blackwell B200 AI GPU, which is expected to begin shipping later this year. Gaudi was not compared to the B200, but the company said it “expects it to be very competitive” against Nvidia's latest processors and called Gaudi a “strong product.”
Intel is probably not looking to outperform Nvidia's latest AI chips, but rather to offer businesses a cheaper alternative. Also note that Nvidia's H100 and H200 chips continue to be in short supply, creating a bottleneck for AI deployment. Intel's latest offerings may help alleviate the backlog.
2. Metaplatform
So as not to lose, meta platform (NASDAQ:Meta) announced Meta Training and Inference Accelerator (MTIA) v2, a custom AI chip that runs in the company's data centers. Meta announced that the latest version of MTIA “more than doubles his compute and memory bandwidth” compared to previous versions. Early results suggest that the new processor's performance is three times better than the first version.
Meta said it seeks to provide “the right balance of compute, memory bandwidth, and memory capacity” with its latest chips. The company is not using these chips for AI processing. At least not yet. Meta uses processors to improve the speed and efficiency of the ranking and recommendation systems used to show you relevant content and target ads on social media sites.
Meta is one of Nvidia's biggest customers, so if its AI chip efforts are successful, the company could reduce its dependence on Nvidia's AI processors.
3. Alphabet
At this week's Google Cloud Next event, alphabet (NASDAQ:Google) (NASDAQ:GOOG) announced the availability of Cloud Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) v5p, the latest version of its AI-centric processor. The company says its Cloud TPU can train large-scale language models (LLMs), the foundation of AI systems, three times faster than version 4.
As is generally the case, Google's TPUs will not be sold, but will be available on Google Cloud later this year.
However, Google said in a blog post that it is expanding the capabilities of its Nvidia GPUs with the addition of the A3 mega supercomputer with Nvidia H100 GPUs. Google Cloud customers will also have access to virtual machines (VMs) powered by Nvidia's Blackwell B200 GPU and Grace Blackwell GB200 GPU.
Google also announced Axion, its first data center central processing unit (CPU). arm holdings. According to Google, Axion is 30% faster than leading CPUs, 50% more performant, and 62% more efficient than Intel and other x86 chips. Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD).
Key takeaways for Nvidia investors
Intel intends to compete directly with Nvidia for a slice of the AI ​​chip market, while Meta Platforms and Alphabet are developing their own AI chips for specific purposes, either internally or for cloud customers. Additionally, Intel claims that its AI-centric chips can compete head-to-head with his Nvidia flagship processors, but Nvidia is already moving forward and will soon ship the next version of its most advanced AI processors. intend to do something.
This helps highlight Nvidia's enviable position in the industry. Rivals are always trying to catch up. They claim to be the best of his Nvidia in terms of performance, but that bragging rights won't last long as Nvidia's next generation chips are already in development.
It is also important to point out that the market for generative AI is growing rapidly, and the market for these cutting-edge processors is expanding. As a result, NVIDIA will maintain its industry-leading position even as rivals enter the market.
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Suzanne Frey, an Alphabet executive, is a member of the Motley Fool's board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg is a former head of market development and spokesperson at Facebook, sister of Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and a member of the Motley Fool's board of directors. Danny Vena has held positions at Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and his Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends Intel and recommends the following options: These are a long call on Intel at $57.50 in January 2023, a long call on Intel at $45 in January 2025, and a short call on Intel at $47 in May 2024. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
3 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks in a Battle with Nvidia originally published by The Motley Fool.