Nvidia's Next-Gen AI Chips Face Potential Delays, Industry Insiders Reveal

Nvidia delays to slow new-era AI chip

Nvidia Corp. hit engineering snags in the development of two new advanced chips, slowing the release of some products designed to extend its lead in the market for artificial intelligence computing. The delays affected the company's highly anticipated Blackwell lineup, which Nvidia announced in March, according to people familiar with the situation. A version of the chip -- known as an AI accelerator -- is being reworked to better work with data center infrastructure designed for an earlier chip, the Hopper H100. That's a relatively small segment of the market, though, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Separately, a product that combines a processor with a graphics chip won't be available in large numbers as quickly as hoped because of problems with supporting technology, they said. The snags -- first reported by the Information website -- reflect the challenges of speeding up the pace of innovation at Nvidia. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang is introducing new chip designs and technology more rapidly, aiming to maintain an edge in AI computing. The company dominates the market for AI accelerators -- an advantage that has sent its sales and market valuation soaring over the past two years. Nvidia declined to comment on "rumors" about the recent engineering problems. The company has said it has begun sending out samples of Blackwell to customers broadly, and demand for its Hopper generation remains strong. Blackwell "production is on track to ramp in the second half," the Santa Clara, California-based company said in a statement. Reports about the delays contributed to a 6.4% stock decline for Nvidia on Monday, though a broader tech rout also weighed on the shares. Rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc., meanwhile, gained 1.8% -- a sign investors hope it may be able to capitalize on the problems. Nvidia supplies its chips to companies like Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google that are spending billions on building data centers, anticipating a surge in demand for AI services. While the delays may affect the flow of the components, which are manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., analysts have mostly taken the concerns in stride. Given the acceleration of innovation, "bumps will continue to happen," TD Cowen analyst Matt Ramsay said in a research note. Weekslong delays, if they materialize, probably won't have an impact on Nvidia's rapid revenue gains or long-term growth, he said. Much will depend, however, on how quickly Nvidia fixes the issues and gets chips to major clients. In May, Nvidia's Huang said that Blackwell had reached full production and would be available to cloud-computing providers later this year. He predicted that demand would continue to exceed supply for both the new lineup and its predecessor. "We will see a lot of Blackwell revenue this year," Huang said on a post-earnings conference call with analysts. The company is scheduled to give its next quarterly report Aug. 28.

Super Micro CEO Blows The Lid Off NVIDIA's Latest Blackwell AI GPU's Purported Delay

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy. Data center equipment provider Super Micro shared details about reports of a delay in NVIDIA's latest Blackwell AI GPUs during the firm's Q4 2024 earnings call conference earlier today. Blackwell is NVIDIA's leading edge AI GPU lineup, and during the call, Super Micro's chairperson and CEO Charles Liang shared that the overall impact of any delay should not be significant for his firm and that it was ready to deploy and provide customers with new products like H200 cooling. The Super Micro earnings call was the first time analysts were able to tune into a company that's a part of NVIDIA's artificial intelligence ecosystem. Right off the bat, the firm's management was peppered with questions about potential GPU delays affecting its financials, which management had shared was because of the nonavailability of components. The first question that probed Super Micro came from JPMorgan, and in response, Liang affirmed that his firm had "heard that NVIDIA may have some delay." However, he stressed that Super Micro treats any potential delays "as a normal possibility" since technology companies "always have a chance to go in a little bit or push out a little bit." In this case, it appeared to him that NVIDIA "push[ed] out a little bit," which does not affect Super Micro's ability to provide its customers with a "new solution like H200 cooling" since Super Micro has lots of customers. He concluded by adding that "this push out overall impact to us, there should be not too much." Among the significant coverage that the rumored Blackwell delay has received, Citi has assured investors that even if the GPUs are delayed, the impact on NVIDIA's financials should only see revenue extended forward from its quarter ending in January to the quarter ending in April 2025. While Super Micro designed liquid cooling solutions keeping the power hungry Blackwell chips in mind, it also offers it for other products such as H200 and H100. Wells Fargo's question was more direct, with analyst Aaron Rakers cutting to the chase and asking Liang if he believes whether Super Micro "will be shipping the Blackwell platform solutions for revenue in the December quarter, or should we think about the full year guide as a bit more weighted to the back half of the fiscal year given some of these concerns around the timing of Blackwell availability." Super Micro's fiscal year ends in June of each year, and its fiscal year 2025 will end in June 2025. The firm's full guidance for FY2025 is between $26 billion and $30 billion, and Liang's response to Rakers' direct question was much more telling. He replied that "I mean, uh, indeed, we are, relatively, very conservative. Understand, Blackwell may postpone, how much, we don't exactly know, because new technology always what, can be, push out, right." He then commented on the revenue impacts based on calendar year quarters, with the third quarter ending in September and the fourth quarter ending in December. According to the Super Micro chief, "for Q3, for sure, we do not expect, any Blackwell volume. For Q4, I mean December quarter, I guess will be very small. Engineering sample. Small volume, so that really volume I believe will have to be March quarter next year. And that's why we [inaudible] only 26 to 30 billion dollars." NVIDIA, for its part, has refused to comment on any rumors for Blackwell's delay. In a statement provided to Wccftech, the firm stated, "Hopper demand is very strong, broad Blackwell sampling has started, and production is on track to ramp in 2H. Beyond that, we don't comment on rumors."