Dear Stakeholders,
Twenty-five years ago, we set out to transform computer graphics. Fueled by the massive growth of the gaming market and its insatiable demand for better 3D graphics, we’ve evolved the GPU into a computer brain at the intersection of virtual reality, high performance computing, and artificial intelligence. NVIDIA GPU computing has become the essential tool of the da Vincis and Einsteins of our time. For them, we’ve built the equivalent of a time machine.
In fact, one of Einstein’s own predictions was recently proven with the help of NVIDIA GPU computing. For the first time in human history, a team of scientists detected and measured gravity waves — a feat Einstein himself doubted possible — opening an important new chapter of scientific advance and earning the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics in the process.
But the outer edges of scientific discovery are only part of the story of how GPU computing is contributing to human progress. AI, the use of computers to simulate and augment human intelligence, is well on its way to revolutionizing every industry.
In healthcare, early detection is the most powerful weapon against disease. We’re contributing directly by bringing AI to medical imaging technologies like MRI, CT, and ultrasound. GE Healthcare has reinvented the CT, doubling image processing speeds by embedding GPU-powered AI in its state-of-the-art Revolution Frontier CT scanner. Going further, we recently introduced the Clara medical imaging supercomputer, which can modernize millions of the world’s aging scanning devices. By connecting these devices to advanced AI capabilities in the cloud, Clara can turn standard 2D scans into fully segmented 3D imagery.
AI will also modernize the $10 trillion transportation industry. Autonomous vehicles promise to make our roads safer and our cities more efficient. They’ll open personal transportation to people previously left behind: the disabled, the elderly, and others for whom driving simply isn’t possible today. Automakers and suppliers are using the NVIDIA DRIVE platform to design and train these self-driving cars of tomorrow — to detect objects and plan paths that keep cars and pedestrians out of harm’s way. Our newest addition to the platform, DRIVE Constellation, lets the makers of self-driving cars add billions of training miles to their fleets in the completely safe world of virtual reality.
Across the board, our technology is designed for maximum energy efficiency. From the smallest elements of processor design to the largest cloud datacenters in the world, we work relentlessly on innovations that deliver maximum performance per watt of electricity. Our most recent datacenter product, the Volta-based DGX-2, can deliver the same performance of hyperscale CPU server clusters but at 1/18th the power consumption. This represents an enormous opportunity to make the world’s computing resources dramatically more efficient.
These are just a few examples. It’s truly amazing what we can all accomplish as this new, supercharged form of computing delivers a 1,000x leap in performance over the next decade.
As we celebrate our 25th anniversary, our ability to tackle the greatest challenges of our time has never been better. We will continue to approach our work the NVIDIA way — applying our amazing capabilities to the tough problems that we’re uniquely suited to tackle and that bring us incredible joy. In short, to do our life’s work.