At the Viva Technology conference in Paris, Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, discussed the company's growth prospects, emphasizing the significance of robotics alongside artificial intelligence (AI). Huang identified self-driving cars as a key commercial application for robotics technology, predicting substantial growth in this sector.
During Nvidia's annual shareholders meeting, Huang stated that AI and robotics represent a multitrillion-dollar opportunity for the company. Nvidia recently restructured its financial reporting to consolidate its automotive and robotics divisions, which reported $567 million in quarterly sales, reflecting a 72% increase year-over-year. While this figure constitutes only about 1% of Nvidia's total revenue, the rapid growth indicates potential for further expansion.
Nvidia has experienced remarkable sales growth over the past three years, primarily driven by strong demand for data center graphics processing units (GPUs) used in AI applications. Sales surged from approximately $27 billion in fiscal 2023 to $130.5 billion last year, with projections nearing $200 billion for the current year. This growth has significantly boosted Nvidia's market capitalization to $3.75 trillion, positioning it as one of the world's most valuable companies.
Huang outlined Nvidia's commitment to advancing robotics, highlighting the Thrive platform for self-driving cars and the recent launch of AI models for humanoid robots, known as Cosmos. He articulated a vision where Nvidia technology powers billions of robots and autonomous vehicles, as well as robotic factories.
Additionally, Huang noted that Nvidia is expanding its offerings beyond chips to include software, cloud services, and networking solutions, aligning with its evolving identity as an "AI infrastructure" provider. In the shareholder meeting, the company's executive compensation plan was approved, and all board members were reelected, while proposals for enhanced diversity reporting and changes to meeting procedures were not passed.