Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) is building a new business unit focused on designing bespoke chips for cloud computing firms and others, including advanced artificial intelligence processors, according to nine sources familiar with the company’s plans.
The dominant global designer and supplier of AI chips aims to capture a portion of an exploding market for custom AI chips and to protect itself from the growing number of companies interested in finding alternatives to its products.
The Santa Clara, California-based company currently controls about 80% of the market for high-end AI chips, a position that has sent its market value up 40% so far this year to $1.73 trillion after it more than tripled in 2023.
Its customers, which include ChatGPT creator OpenAI, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) , have raced to snap up the dwindling supply of Nvidia chips to compete in the rapidly emerging generative AI sector.
Nvidia’s H100 and A100 chips serve as a generalized, all-purpose AI processor for many of those major customers. But the tech companies have started to develop their own internal chips for specific needs. Doing so helps reduce energy consumption, and potentially can shrink the cost and time to design.
NVDA shares leaped $11.12, or 1.6%, to $707.53.
