Economist Podcasts Block off the old chips? Nvidia’s fraught merger
Aug 3, 2021
Tamsin Booth, The Economist's Technology and Business editor, shares her insights on NVIDIA's ambitious $40 billion bid for ARM and the regulatory hurdles it faces. Johnny Williams, an American affairs writer, discusses a striking trend of Americans moving away from organized religion, revealing how this 'religiously unaffiliated' group impacts civic engagement and democracy. The conversation also touches on women's empowerment in China through the surfing culture, showcasing a shift in gender roles celebrated by pioneers like Darcy Liu.
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NVIDIA's Rise and AI's Pervasiveness
- NVIDIA's market value has grown 15x in five years, surpassing Intel.
- Their planned acquisition of Arm reflects AI's growing pervasiveness and the consolidation of power in the tech industry.
NVIDIA's Unexpected Journey to AI Dominance
- NVIDIA started as a gaming company in 1993, focusing on improving graphics with GPUs.
- GPUs unexpectedly proved useful for AI, leading to their dominance in the field after a 2012 ImageNet competition win.
Accelerated Computing and CUDA
- NVIDIA's early development of CUDA software enabled GPUs to be used for purposes beyond gaming.
- This combination of GPUs and CPUs created "accelerated computing," crucial for AI's demands.