NVIDIA CEO Predicts 10x Growth in the Semiconductor Industry Over the Next Decade

Huo Xing Cai Jing reports that on July 26, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, in an interview with Bloomberg’s podcast, stated that South Korea is in a “golden era,” with its semiconductor and industrial capabilities helping to build global AI infrastructure. NVIDIA has already established multiple partnerships with the SK Group, and their future business collaborations in areas such as memory procurement, AI supercomputing, and data center construction are expected to exceed $500 billion. NVIDIA will purchase large volumes of memory chips from SK Hynitz over consecutive years and jointly advance the technology roadmap from HBM2, HBM3, HBM3E, HBM4, HBM4E, to subsequent generations. Meanwhile, SK Telecom plans to expand its AI cloud infrastructure to up to 2 gigawatts in the near term, for which NVIDIA will supply supercomputers. The collaboration includes both NVIDIA’s procurement of memory and the SK Group’s procurement of AI infrastructure. Huang believes that as AI agents and robots begin to use computers at scale, chip demand will no longer be driven solely by human users. Over the next decade, the global semiconductor industry may need to expand to ten times its current size. Currently, resources such as HBM memory, land, power, and data center infrastructure are all under tight supply; while the industry may be capable of doubling capacity annually, faster expansion will be extremely difficult. Although the industry as a whole may be able to double supply each year, land, power, and facilities cannot expand as rapidly as consumer electronics, meaning AI infrastructure development may continue to progress at a constrained pace over the next decade. Regarding U.S.-China AI competition, Huang noted that both countries have excellent AI researchers; although their resources, conditions, and constraints differ, both will continue driving AI technological progress. China may be producing more AI researchers annually than all other regions combined, and the U.S. must continue learning, collaborating, and maintaining competitiveness.