Nvidia is not just a hardware company that engineers chips. At this year's GTC 2024 AI Conference for Developers, it was very important for Nvidia to show that it is also a software company. Nvidia is not concealing that the cloud business is the next field it plans to conquer and it is clear that it is an important engine of growth that will yield it large future revenue, as competition intensifies.
In order to develop and promote its cloud business, Nvidia has hired Alexis Black Bjorlin as VP and GM DGX Cloud, the company's cloud computing service. Bjorlin joined Nvidia six months ago, after serving as VP infrastructure at Meta. She has been recruited directly into Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's team, which demonstrates how critical this market segment is for the company.
Bjorlin is considered one of the top women in the world of AI chips and in the past she has been an SVP at Broadcom and Intel. In the first interview that she has given to the international media since joining Nvidia, she tells "Globes" about the extensive resources that the company is investing in this industry and how significant they see it for their business.
Will you become a cloud company?
"During the conference this year, we announced the various major investments that we have done in the area, which emphasizes how important it is for us to develop and promote the field. We continue to expand abilities in order to offer global services and we will be available worldwide. All these investments are designed in order to meet customers in their place on the AI journey," Bjorlin tells "Globes." "We have invested huge amounts in order to help our customers to realize their dreams, through AI and various platforms."
Bjorlin heads Nvidia's DGX Cloud, which has the company's latest technology. Nvidia's ecosystem means not only the processors but also the code software, and allows direct use of all the company's AI capabilities through the cloud, with all its various modules first of all be available on the cloud.
Nvidia hopes to offer services not available elsewhere or in which the company's advantage is clear. For example, at the conference the company announced the NIM store for AI applications, which allows Nvidia to mediate between AI modules and companies that do not know how to deal with it. Nvidia offers end-to-end capabilities to enable training for the various modules or application capabilities through its cloud. This should help developers make and release products more quickly and simply.
Nvidia is actually becoming a cloud company, and the implications are huge. The company already boasts annual revenue of $1 billion dollars from its software segment, and Nvidia wants to take this performance a step further. This means investing more in a new area that it has not yet reported on - services. The recruitment of Bjorlin and the announcements about the cloud show that Nvidia is not only transforming itself into a cloud company, but also prioritizing the field and marking it out as a significant future growth engine.
So is Nvidia becoming a rival of cloud providers like Google, Amazon and Microsoft? Bjorlin chooses her words carefully and says, "I wouldn't say that we will become a cloud services provider per se but without a doubt, a cloud computing platform company. We operate on the servers of the cloud providers and consider them full partners. To activate our cloud services, you can choose any of the providers. Ultimately, AI is so pervasive that we want to be able to offer flexibility for our consumers, without compromising performance. People will choose their cloud services, and it will be a multi-cloud world for years to come. Our goal is to offer the best AI cloud, together with the cloud providers we cooperate with,"
To offer "the full solution"
You have worked at thrilling tech giants. Why choose Nvidia?
"I want to be in the center of endeavor for AI and in the center of building infrastructures and I want to do it on a huge scale. There is nowhere else in the world like Nvidia, where it is possible to work and get close to the developers community and offer an enormous ecosystem, as we allow for all the different industries."
She says that unlike other companies in the market, "Nvidia has the complete solution. We have the ability to touch the end user and enable the mission, the vision of AI, whether it is in health, automotive, industry and with governments. Nvidia is the most innovative company in the world, and that's why I'm here."
What is your vision for the cloud sector?
"As I've said to provide customers with the full solution. We are trying to lead our product to a full stack solution from the ability to work with the silicon to the design of the model. All this, of course, with energy efficiency, with the deployment of experiences and more economical AI uses together with a good user experience. From the training modules to implementation and obtaining the necessary conclusions. We will help the company more easily consume the modules and allow them to be the most innovative in their industry."
What do you need to do to bring the newest technology in the field?
"I believe that Nvidia's full stack solution is the best infrastructure for programming and is phenomenal both in terms of training and implementation. I truly believe that basically optimizing Nvidia's system is where the future of AI is going, to allow people to more easily consume AI. The cloud has already undergone a process of 20-30 years of history, but AI was born in the cloud and should be in the cloud because it should be everywhere - from large data centers to the end consumer. So we must continue to develop the ecosystem that makes this possible."
This is Bjorlin's role in the company. Nvidia clearly says that the cloud sector is a particularly high priority, to allow customers to consume the company's products through the cloud. Bjorlin has a particularly impressive track record in her career, so her recruitment is not surprising. "I think it's a field full of opportunities for everyone. AI is the beginning of a new era in computing, which will be accessible to all of humanity, so we'll see a huge amount of diversity in the field. The road is open to everybody who wants it."
About her work at Nvidia, she says that it is an "incredibly inclusive" environment and that winning ideas are forged there. She also says that the corporate culture provides an excellent opportunity for women and underrepresented minorities to come and build a career. An important tip she gives to women who seek advice from her is to "stay technical". "Of course you have to embrace learning and always speak, and determine the place at the table - because everyone has a place at the table and every idea is worth hearing. One of the most important pieces of advice I give women is to know that you are the one who sets your journey. Look for cultures that allow innovation and allow ideas to flourish. Look for an environment where you can succeed."
Full disclosure: The author was Nvidia's guest at the GTC 2024 Conference
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on March 25, 2024.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.