Nvidia, Foxconn team up on AI factories to shape cars of the future
Taipei, Oct. 18 (CNA) AI chip leader Nvidia is teaming up with Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry on developing AI factories to improve the electric vehicles of the future and make autonomous vehicles (AV) safer, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said in Taipei Wednesday.
Appearing at 2023 Hon Hai Tech Day with Hon Hai Chairman and CEO Young Liu (劉揚偉), Huang said the two companies are building an “end-to-end system” encompassing Nvidia’s AI factory and the AV fleet envisioned by Hon Hai (better known internationally as Foxconn).
The AI factory, according to Nvidia, is a computing infrastructure specially built for processing, refining and transforming vast amounts of data into valuable AI models and is to be based on the Nvidia accelerated computing platform.
In the end-to-end system that Nvidia is building with Foxconn — which Huang depicted with a hand-drawn schematic during his talk — there will be at one end advanced EV cars with AI brains that enable them to interact with drivers and passengers and drive themselves.
At the other end there is this AI factory that will develop software for the cars, Huang said.
In this circular system, the cars will collect data for the AI factory to process and further improve the software for the entire AV fleet for the cars to work more intelligently, Huang said.
In other words, the AI factory takes raw material in, which is called data, processes it, and produces intelligence for the cars, the Nvidia CEO said.
“Just as an EV has an AI brain, the factory also has an AI brain that is powered by NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD,” which is an AI data center infrastructure, Huang said.
An AI factory will have many such superpods, Huang said, which is a factory of the future.
The Nvidia CEO said the rise of generative AI means that AI factories will extend far beyond the automotive industry and become fixtures in every company and industry.
“We’re at the beginning of a brand new wave of new software, using computers to write softwares that no humans can, and these computers have extraordinary features,” Huang said of generative AI.
The generative AI revolution is based on three fundamental ingredients, he said — a neural network algorithm that allows a computer to learn from its experience, an abundance of data, “which is the digital version of life experience,” and a powerful computer.
The three fundamental ingredients are embodied in the end-to-end system, Huang described.
Speaking with Huang at the same event, Liu said Foxconn is targeting three platforms — the smart city platform, the smart manufacturing platform, and the smart EV platform — that will all be powered by AI factories.
Nvidia said in a separate statement that Foxconn will use Nvidia technology for a wide range of applications, “including digitalization of manufacturing and inspection workflows, development of AI-powered electric vehicle and robotics platforms, and a growing number of language-based generative AI services.”