Chipmaker Nvidia's CEO sees fully autonomous cars within
4 years
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 [October 26, 2017]
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Nvidia Corp
chief executive Jensen Huang said on Thursday artificial intelligence
would enable fully automated cars within 4 years, but sought to tamp
down expectations for a surge in demand for its chips from
cryptocurrency miners.
Nvidia came to prominence in the gaming industry for designing
graphics-processing chips, but in recent years has been expanding into
newer technologies including high-performance computing, artificial
intelligence, and self-driving cars.
Its expansion has been richly rewarded with a 170 percent stock surge
over the past year, boosting its market value to $116 billion.
"It will take no more than 4 years to have fully autonomous cars on the
road. How long it takes for the vast majority of cars on the road to
become that, it really just depends," Huang told media after a company
event in Taipei.
Global tech firms such as Apple Inc, Facebook, Alphabet Inc, Amazon and
China's Huawei [HWT.UL] are spending heavily to develop and offer
AI-powered services and products in search of new growth drivers.
Apple Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams said earlier this week that
the firm sees its mobile devices as a major platform for AI in the
future. [nL4N1MY3N5]
"There are many tasks in companies that can be automated... the
productivity of society will go up," said Nvidia's Huang.
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Nvidia co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang attends an event during the
annual Computex computer exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan May 30, 2017.
REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
But Huang joined peers taming expectations of strong revenue growth from
a wave of interest in cryptocurrencies. Advanced Micro Devices Inc
expected this week that there will be some leveling off of
cryptocurrency demand. [nL4N1MZ5RP]
"Revenue for us in crypto is over $100 million a quarter. For us, it's a
small percentage... It's obviously not a target market," Huang said.
Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that use encryption techniques
for security and can be traded. Miners use computers to process
cryptocurrency transactions, and they are rewarded with additional
cryptocurrency.
(Reporting by Jess Macy Yu; Writing by Miyoung Kim; Editing by
Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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