Nvidia CEO to kick off and dominate Computex gathering in Taipei

By Max A. Cherney and Wen-Yee Lee

TAIPEI, June 1 (Reuters) – Nvidia boss Jensen Huang will kick off the Computex trade show in Taiwan on Monday with a lengthy speech about AI in which he is expected to expound on his company’s latest product efforts as well as the island’s central role in the industry.

The CEO of the $5 trillion chipmaker, who was born in Taiwan’s southern city of Tainan, announced plans last week to invest around $150 billion a year in Taiwan, describing it as the epicentre of the AI revolution.

The speech is set to begin at 11 a.m. (0300 GMT) at the Taipei Music Hall. It comes around two weeks after he accompanied U.S. President Donald Trump on a visit to Beijing, part of a high-powered corporate delegation, to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Huang, who has rockstar status in Taiwan, is expected to talk about Nvidia’s AI chips, software and systems. Attention is likely to focus on its data center products, such as its new Vera Rubin AI computing platform and Vera central processing unit (CPU), and on its efforts in markets such as robotics and autonomous driving.

Nvidia is also building a Taiwan headquarters which is scheduled to be operational in 2030. That will bring it closer to key supplier TSMC, which makes many of the advanced semiconductors powering AI systems.

One potential area of focus is Nvidia’s efforts, reported by Reuters in 2023, to develop an Arm-based PC chip that would challenge Intel and Advanced Micro Devices. Chips take about two years to design and Huang has said that the central processors, or CPUs, are tuned for consumer hardware with AI.

Last month when the company reported quarterly results, Huang aimed to assure investors that Nvidia can maintain its rampaging growth. He said a wide swathe of customers and new products will help the company beat the roughly $1 trillion in sales it has forecast for its flagship AI chips.

Computex is expected to attract 1,500 exhibitors from 33 countries around the world. Intel and Qualcomm’s CEOs are also due to deliver speeches at the trade show.

(Reporting by Max A. Cherney and Wen-Yee Lee; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree and Edwina Gibbs)