KCCI Jeju Forum AI Management Talk Show
"Experience with GPUs is Nvidia's Advantage
Other Chips May Be Needed After 3 Years
During the Gold Rush, Jeans and Pickaxe Businesses Came First
Nvidia Plays a Similar Role
Our Strategy Combines Data Centers and Energy"
Choi Tae-won, Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and SK Group, stated about SK Hynix's 'client' Nvidia, which is leading the artificial intelligence (AI) chip market, "I think there will be almost no rivals for the next 2 to 3 years."
Choi Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group and the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is sharing his thoughts at the 'KCCI Jeju Forum' AI Management Talk Show held on the morning of the 19th at the Shilla Hotel in Jeju. Photo by Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Chairman Choi made this remark during an 'AI Management Talk Show' held at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Jeju Forum at the Shilla Hotel in Jeju on the 19th, in a discussion with Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon and others.
When asked, "When and who do you think will topple Nvidia's dominance?" Chairman Choi replied, "It is difficult to predict," but added, "I believe it will be hard to topple Nvidia for the next 2 to 3 years. There are several factors involved."
He emphasized, "Nvidia's advantage lies in its experience with graphics processing units (GPUs), which means they have been handling AI computations. Based on this, Nvidia has significantly advanced its software."
However, Chairman Choi also said, "Does that mean Nvidia could collapse after 2 to 3 years? That is possible," adding, "Currently, the model for how to make money with AI is not clear. There is an assumption that 'we will naturally make money with AI later.' Companies have invested in building large language models (LLMs) over the past 2 to 3 years, but if growth sufficient to generate revenue has not been achieved, whether companies or individuals pay, payment applications need to be developed alongside. If that does not happen, a different ecosystem other than Nvidia's world will be needed, and the fortress Nvidia has built could collapse."
Regarding who could surpass Nvidia, Chairman Choi said, "Because Nvidia's chip performance is currently excellent, people will continue to use them even if they are expensive. So their winning streak will continue. It could last more than five years," but added, "It is difficult to say who will break Nvidia now. There are companies using Nvidia's chips, but they also have a strong desire to make their own chips. AMD and ARM are also making chips. If someone, including those who have been making chips, can produce chips at a lower cost, Nvidia could collapse. The probability is hard to calculate."
Chairman Choi also compared the recent AI craze to the 'Gold Rush' in the 19th century when people flocked to mine gold.
He said, "There was a Gold Rush in the past, and now people are challenging to mine the AI gold mine," adding, "To mine gold, you need many tools like jeans and pickaxes, and during the Gold Rush, those who sold jeans and pickaxes rose first rather than those who tried to mine gold to make money."
Chairman Choi said that Nvidia is doing something similar to selling pickaxes now, stating, "Our strategy is also to make money by selling pickaxes like Nvidia," and added, "The problem is that pickaxe sellers can only keep selling if gold miners keep mining gold, but if no gold comes out, pickaxes cannot be sold either."
He continued, "At first, you sell pickaxes, but to dig deeper, you have to sell bulldozers or drills," and said, "Our basic strategy is to help mine gold at the lowest cost by attaching energy to AI data centers."
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won is seen visiting Silicon Valley, USA, on April 24 (local time), engaging in a conversation with Jensen Huang, CEO of the American semiconductor company Nvidia. [Image source=Yonhap News]
Currently, SK Hynix is effectively the exclusive supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in GPUs to Nvidia, leading the AI memory market.
Chairman Choi also met with Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, at Nvidia's headquarters in San Jose, USA, last April to discuss ways to strengthen their partnership.
He mentioned his recent business trip to the United States, where he met consecutively with executives of global tech companies. He said, "Since companies have their own strategies, it is important to understand those strategies," emphasizing, "Our strategy is not only to produce and sell semiconductors at the same level as big tech companies but also to sell other solutions. Therefore, it is important to identify each company's needs."
Chairman Choi added, "Rather than just selling single products like semiconductors, we need to check whether they require something including our energy solutions. Recently, tech companies are interested in AI data centers. While we cannot build and provide data centers ourselves, we discuss with executives how to create effective data centers by incorporating our technology and materials."
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