Nvidia will build AI supercomputers for US Energy Department, annouces total bookings of $500 billion
By Stephen Nellis, Alexandra Alper and Arsheeya Bajwa
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said on Tuesday: artificial intelligence The chip leader will build seven new supercomputers for the U.S. Department of Energy and said the company has $500 billion in bookings for AI chips.
As the first company valued at more than $4 trillion, Nvidia is at the center of the global rollout of artificial intelligence. While making deals around the world, it is also steering the US-China trade war, which could determine which country’s technology is most used around the world.
Investors are seeking clarity on what chips the tech company could sell to the vast Chinese market, but Huang kicked off his keynote speech at the company’s GTC event in the US capital by praising US President Donald Trump’s policy and announcing new products and deals. These included networking technology that would allow Nvidia AI chips to work with quantum computers.
The supercomputers Nvidia is building for the Department of Energy will, in part, help the United States maintain and develop its nuclear weapons arsenal. Supercomputers will also be used to research alternative energy sources such as nuclear fusion. The largest of the Department of Energy’s supercomputers will be built with Oracle and feature 100,000 of Nvidia’s Blackwell chips.
“Putting the weight of the nation behind pro-energy growth has completely changed the game,” Huang said. “If this hadn’t happened, we would have been in a bad situation, and I want to thank President Trump for that.”
Nvidia shares rose 3.3% to $197.82 on Tuesday afternoon.
Nvidia also announced new details to target the AI communications market with Finnish telecom equipment maker Nokia. Nvidia will invest $1 billion for a 2.9% stake in Nokia and has also introduced a new product line called Arc designed to work with telecommunications equipment. Huang said that Nvidia will work with Nokia to improve the power efficiency of the company’s base stations for 6G, the next generation wireless data technology.
“We will use this new technology and be able to upgrade millions of base stations around the world,” Huang said.
The company has a total of $500 billion in reservations for Blackwell and Rubin chips over the next five quarters, the CEO said.
Nvidia also announced its partnership with Palantir Technologies, a company that works closely with the US government. But the focus of Nvidia’s partnership was Palantir’s commercial business; Here, Nvidia will help companies like home improvement retailer Lowe’s speed up solving logistics problems. This type of enterprise work has long been Intel’s stronghold.
Nvidia announced a new autonomous vehicle technology platform called Hyperion. Nvidia is partnering with Uber to create a Robotaxis network, Huang said. “This will be a new computing platform for us, and I expect it to be quite successful,” Huang said.
“These announcements all demonstrate Nvidia’s ability to expand its reach beyond its core data center customers,” DA Davidson analyst Gil Luria said. “While these projects pale in comparison to the capex of hyperscalers like Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Meta, they could create new markets for Nvidia down the road.”
Huang performed to a packed auditorium as Trump continues his tour of Asia this week ahead of his expected meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday. The flow of advanced technology between the two countries will likely be at the center of trade discussions, with access to Nvidia chips a key issue.
Nvidia’s annual GTC event is being held in Washington DC for the first time; This is a sign that the company is pursuing business with the government and contractors clustered around the capital. At the last GTC in March in California, Nvidia revealed its chip roadmap for next year.
The US government is focusing on artificial intelligence and increasing computing power. On Monday, Nvidia rival Advanced Micro Devices announced a $1 billion partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy to build two supercomputers that will tackle big scientific challenges ranging from nuclear energy to cancer treatments to national security.
Former President Joe Biden restricted sales of Nvidia’s most advanced chips to China, but Trump wavered on the policy in his second term and reversed course in July after initially restricting exports of Nvidia’s AI chips designed for the Chinese market.
Huang argued that Nvidia needs to tap nearly $50 billion in potential sales from the Chinese market to fund U.S.-based research and development to maintain the company’s edge. Reuters had previously reported that Chinese developers still wanted Nvidia chips despite pressure from Beijing to buy domestic chips from Huawei Technologies Co.
Nvidia explained how it produces chips at TSMC facilities in Arizona, assembles servers in Texas and networking equipment in California. “We’re manufacturing in America again; it’s incredible. The first thing President Trump asked me was ‘bring manufacturing back,'” Huang said.
(Reporting by Stephen Nellis and Alexandra Alper in Washington; Additional reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Henderson and Matthew Lewis)
