This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on December 11, 2023 - December 17, 2023

JENSEN Huang Jen-hsun, founder and CEO of US-based computer graphics chip designer Nvidia Corp, and Dr Lisa Su Tzwu-Fang, chair and CEO of computer processor developer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD), are distant cousins. To be precise, Su is the granddaughter of an uncle of Huang.

Interestingly, these Taiwanese-American tech executives, both of whom live in Santa Clara, California, with their headquarters just a five-minute drive from each other, find themselves in direct competition in the global artificial intelligence (AI) race.

Last Wednesday, AMD rolled out its new MI300X chip, which Su says is “the most advanced AI accelerator in the industry” that could outperform Nvidia’s current offering. She predicts that the AI chip industry could be worth more than US$400 billion in 2027.

The H100 chip by Nvidia — which Su used as a point of comparison for the MI300X throughout her presentation — has dominated the AI chip market, with Big Tech players such as Amazon.com Inc, Meta Platforms Inc, Microsoft Corp and Google using it to develop generative AI tools.

However, AMD is breathing down Nvidia’s neck. Customers of its MI300X chip reportedly will include Microsoft, Oracle, Meta and ChatGPT creator OpenAI.

When asked his views on the intensifying AI race, including AMD’s challenge and Su’s remarks, Nvidia boss Huang, who generally wears a black leather jacket, acknowledged that the group faces market competition from all over the world. Therefore, it has to continue to work hard to stay at the top of its field for a long time.

“How do I feel? Fear, and [more] fear … I do feel like I am a hunted animal, at least by her [AMD’s Su]. I’ve just got to hide and run [faster]. That is the nature of business,” he tells journalists at a media roundtable session on his maiden visit to Malaysia last Friday. Earlier in the week, he attended an AI conference in Singapore, where Nvidia already has a supercomputer and AI technology centre.

“We are looking to advance the technology. We don’t target anyone, we don’t hunt anyone, we try not to kill anyone, but that’s because we are pioneers in almost everything we do. That’s our mentality.

“I don’t understand [everyone’s] mentality, but I do understand why we are being hunted. We will do our best and we have to focus on what we are good at. We invent, and then they hunt. It’s okay.”

On the same day, YTL Power International Bhd confirmed news that it is collaborating with Nvidia to build an infrastructure asset powered by the latter’s AI technology, with the first phase of the data centre expected to commence operations by the middle of next year.

The data centre, which will provide AI computing services to the country, will be owned and managed by YTL Power’s 60%-owned subsidiary YTL Communications Sdn Bhd and be hosted at YTL Power’s 500mw solar-powered Green Data Centre Park in Johor.

Huang highlighted that Malaysia could be an excellent data centre infrastructure hub for Southeast Asia.

“Malaysia is a very strong manufacturing nation, and I believe your country has a unique advantage to potentially become an excellent data centre technology hub for Nvidia in Southeast Asia,” he says.

During the roundtable session, the 60-year-old Huang was full of praise for Malaysia and Southeast Asia.

“Southeast Asia is quite an excellent place for semiconductor packaging and testing, as well as battery manufacturing and assembly. This region is already very good from many aspects in the technology supply chain, and we have seen evidence of success in its desire to go into areas such as semiconductor and system design, data centre operations, software design, software operations and services,” he elaborates.

“The reason why we want to be here in Malaysia is because Southeast Asia is genuinely a successful, developing and advancing region. Malaysia is prosperous and modern in every single way. Here in Malaysia, the data centre and cloud computing infrastructure, which is one of the most important parts of our AI supercomputer in the cloud, is very successful.”

Given that every country and every region has its own culture, language and literature, Huang points out that Malaysia has to create its own AI foundation model that will be used by many researchers, companies and start-ups.

“The fact that it has to be created here is the reason why we are here. Nvidia is an expert at creating AI technology. We can help your country build your foundation AI. That’s my primary objective. Once we create the foundation model for this region, we hope that all industries will flourish and benefit from it,” he says.

Huang, an electrical engineer, is a big shot in the global semiconductor industry as he helms Nvidia, which became the world’s first chip company to breach a market capitalisation of US$1 trillion in mid-2023. He observes that generative AI and AI have made tremendous breakthroughs this year, starting with the launch of ChatGPT.

“But the AI application is much broader than that. We now have AI that can understand and generate data of many kinds, be they texts and images, chemicals and proteins and even the laws of physics. Every industry — from IT to healthcare, drug discovery and autonomous transport, has awakened to the possibilities of AI,” says Huang.

He highlights that generative AI is “probably the greatest platform transition in the computer industry”, and it could be even bigger than the personal computer (PC) revolution and internet revolution.

“The PC revolution was around the late 1980s, followed by the internet revolution, mobile revolution, cloud computing revolution and now, the AI revolution, which will affect every industry. In fact, the AI revolution is going to be the largest technology transition that the world will ever know. It is a big deal,” says Huang.

He urges all Malaysians to jump into generative AI, which has closed the gap of the technology divide.

“For the very first time, every farmer, every restaurant owner, anybody who knows their skills but doesn’t know computers can now be a programmer. If you ask ChatGPT to make you a website, it makes you a website. What just happened? The technology divide has disappeared,” he says.

“Everybody, everyone, find out what AI can do for you. Get into the technology revolution. Today, anyone who felt left behind will no longer be left behind. What a phenomenal contribution it [generative AI] has made to society!”

Nvidia, along with Apple Inc, Amazon, Microsoft, Tesla Inc, Meta (Facebook’s parent company) and Alphabet Inc (Google’s parent company), are being called the “Magnificent Seven” mega-cap tech stocks, which have been driving the performance of the S&P 500 for most of the year due to investor excitement about the growth of AI.

However, Huang warns that the possibilities and promises of AI have to be balanced with caution.

“To apply caution, we have to be aware that we need to be cautious about this technology, whose core is autonomous technology. Whether it is auto pilot, auto plane, anything that is autonomous requires some cautions,” he stresses.

“For example, we [humans] are autonomous. That’s why we have to be educated, we have to be aligned with our core values and be taught the difference between right and wrong. The same thing will have to happen to AI.”

Huang, who is regularly seen donning his trademark black leather jacket, attributes his fashion style to his wife Lori Huang.

“My wife knows that I don’t like to change [my outfit]. She buys all my clothes, my shoes, my pants and my jackets. And when your wife buys you things, your job is to say, ‘I love them, honey.’ But yeah, wearing the same outfit is easy because I don’t have to think what to wear for which occasion. I never have to look in the mirror and ask myself that question.

“I have many black jackets. I open the closet and grab one, it fits perfectly. And they are exactly the same, all in black. I also know that my black leather jacket will match my black pants, which will match my black shirt. There are no surprises because nobody expects anything from me. They are not going to judge me and say, ‘Hey, how come you didn’t dress up for this occasion?’ It never happens.” 

Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy.

P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's App Store and Android's Google Play.