What I learned following Jensen Huang around Europe

Nvidia Chief Jensen Huang has been on a tour of Europe this week, bringing emotion and intrigue to all the places where he visited.

His message was clear: Nvidia is the company that can help Europe to build its artificial intelligence infrastructure so that the region can take control of its own destination with transformative technology.

I have been in London and Paris this week after Huang when he met with the United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French president Emmanuel Macron, journalists, fans, analysts and gave a key note in the GTC event of Nvid in the capital of France.

Here is what I saw and the key things I learned.

Huang is really the current Rockstar of the technological world.

In London Tech Week, the lines were long and the auditorium was filled with hearing him speak.

The GTC event in Paris was also full. It was like going to a music concert or a sporting event. There were GTC Paris t -shirts at the bottom of each chair and even a merchandise store.

Huang’s aura really caught my attention when, after a question and answers session with him and a room full of attendees, most people aligned to take photos or selfies with him.

Macron and Starmer wanted to be seen on stage with him.

The key product of NVIDIA is its graphics processing units (GPU) that are used to train and execute IA applications.

But Huang has placed Nvidia as more than a chip company. During the week, he described Nvidia as an infrastructure company. He also said that AI should be seen as an infrastructure as electricity.

His presentation to all countries was that Nvidia could be the company that will help countries develop that infrastructure.

“We believe that to compete, to build a significant ecosystem, Europe needs to join and build a joint capacity,” Huang said during a speech at the Tech Liva Conference in Paris on Wednesday.

One of the most The significant associations announced this week are among the French Startup Mistral and Nvidia to build a so -called AI cloud using the latter’s GPUs.

Huang spoke a lot during the week about the “Sovereign AI”, the concept of building data centers within the borders of a country that serves its population instead of depending on the servers located abroad. Among European politicians and companies, this has been an important issue.

Huang also praised the United Kingdom, France and Europe in general when it was its potential in the AI ​​industry.

On Thursday, Huang decided to tour Nvidia’s stand and managed to catch him to get some words in CNBC “European Squawk Box “.

A key issue of that discussion was China. Nvidia has not been able to sell its most advanced chips to China due to the export controls of the United States and even less sophisticated semiconductors are being blocked. In its last quarterly results, Nvidia received a success of $ 4.5 billion in the inventory not sold.

I asked Huang about how China was progressing with AI chips, particularly referring to Huawei, the Chinese technological giant who is trying to make semiconductor products to rival Nvidia.

Huang said Huawei is a generation behind Nvidia. But because there is a lot of energy in China, Huawei can use more chips to obtain results.

“If the United States does not want to participate, participating in China, Huawei has Cover, and Huawei has all other cutlery,” Huang said.

In addition, Huang is concerned about the strategic importance that US companies do not have access to China.

“It is even more important that the American technology battery is in what IA developers worldwide are based,” said Huang.

Just reading between the lines: Huang sees a world where China’s technology advances. Some countries may decide to build their AI infrastructure with Chinese companies instead of Americans. That in turn could give Chinese companies the opportunity to be in AI’s career.

Huang often uses public appearances to talk about the future.

I asked about some of those areas where it is optimistic, such as robotics and driverless cars, technology that Nvidia products can feed.

Huang told me that this will be “Decade of “autonomous vehicles and robotics.

During his key note in GTC Paris on Wednesday, he also addresses quantum computing, saying that technology is reaching “a turning point.”

It is widely believed that quantum computers are able to solve complex problems that classic computers cannot. This could include things like discovering new drugs or materials.