Six companies are all aiming at Nvidia.

Since OpenAI launched its generative AI chatbot ChatGPT in 2022, we have witnessed many marvels of artificial intelligence.

However, if artificial intelligence is to continue expanding its capabilities, it needs not only a vast amount of data but also advanced chips that can meet its computational demands.

From training massive neural networks to running complex image recognition, natural language processing, speech recognition, machine translation, and autonomous systems, AI chips are the power behind the AI brain.

With the explosive growth in this field, many companies known for developing traditional CPUs have shifted their focus to specialized processors for AI workloads, and new processors are emerging.

According to MarketDigits, given the craze for these specialized processors, the market generated $15.9 billion in revenue in 2022 and is expected to reach $207 billion by 2030.

As many companies vie for dominance, understanding who these players are and their role in shaping the future of artificial intelligence is crucial for businesses and individuals alike.

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Below, we introduce the leading AI chip manufacturers of 2024, including their latest AI flagship products, market positions, and more.SambaNova Systems

SambaNova Systems is an artificial intelligence startup based in Palo Alto, founded in 2017. The company aims to support generative AI workloads from data centers to the cloud. In 2023, the company announced the release of its latest AI chip, the SN40L, demonstrating its readiness in the AI chip market.

In February of last year, SambaNova unveiled Samba-1, a 1 trillion parameter generative AI model that includes over 50 open-source generative AI models.

The company has successfully secured over $1.1 billion in funding, indicating the industry's confidence in its vision and capabilities. As of 2024, SambaNova Systems' market value is estimated to be around $5.1 billion.

Cerebras Systems

Since its establishment in 2015, Cerebras Systems has been at the forefront of AI chip technology. In April 2021, they launched an AI chip model, the Cerebras WSE-2.

The WSE-2 features 850,000 cores and 2.6 trillion transistors, marking a significant leap from its predecessor, the WSE-1, which had 1.2 trillion transistors and 400,000 processing cores.

In March of last year, the company announced the release of its latest AI chip, the WSE-3, which is its third-generation wafer-scale AI supercomputer chip. According to the company, the WSE-3 is equipped with 4 trillion transistors and is capable of handling generative AI tasks with trillions of parameters.The company has recently established a partnership with Qualcomm to develop more advanced artificial intelligence models and has formed partnerships with numerous pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline.

Cerebras Systems remains a privately held company and is considering an initial public offering (IPO) in the second half of 2024.

The company was valued at over $4 billion in a funding round in 2021.

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Qualcomm

Qualcomm is a major player in the semiconductor industry, known for pioneering Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology, which is the foundation of all 3G networks globally. Qualcomm's Snapdragon chipsets are widely praised for powering many mobile devices around the world.

The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 was released in October 2023 and is Qualcomm's latest AI flagship chip. The company claims that the chip is designed to bring advanced AI functionalities and features to Android flagship smartphones.

At MWC2024 in Barcelona, the company announced on X that it will launch an even more advanced AI chip, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4, in October 2024. In the announcement, the company stated that the latest chip will bring more AI capabilities to Android devices.

As of April 2024, the San Diego-based chip design company has a current market value of approximately $191.16 billion, with its stock price at $173.29 per share.IBM

IBM is widely recognized for its contributions to technologies such as ATMs, magnetic stripe cards, the SQL programming language, and UPC barcodes.

The company launched a new AI flagship chip, North Pole, based on a 12nm process technology in 2023. IBM claims that the chip's energy efficiency is 25 times that of GPUs with equivalent process technology, and it has lower latency.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, IBM reported total debt of $59.93 billion, compared to $54.01 billion in 2022. According to the most recent data, IBM's market value is approximately $167.1 billion, with a share price of around $182.27. The company's revenue is expected to grow at a rate of 4.17%, increasing from $61.86 billion in 2023 to $64.44 billion in 2024, and then reaching $67.38 billion in 2025.

Intel

Mentioning Intel resonates with people due to its long history in the computing field. Established in July 1968 in California, Intel is one of the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturers, with its products used in a variety of electronic devices.

As the artificial intelligence era continues to thrive, Intel is regaining its footing in the rapidly growing AI chip market.

After encountering challenges with previous chips, Intel recently announced its new AI chip—Gaudi 3—claiming it will offer up to 1.7 times the training performance, 50% inference capability, and 40% efficiency. The chip is expected to be available to OEMs in the second quarter of 2024.

Although Intel's long-term debt in 2023 stood at $49.3 billion, a significant increase from $42.1 billion in 2022, its revenue is expected to grow from $54.23 billion in 2023 to $58.56 billion in 2024. As of the release of this report, the company's market value hovers around $150.9 billion, with a share price of $36.In February 2024, Intel partnered with Microsoft to embark on a custom chip business venture worth approximately $15 billion. This prompted Intel to collaborate with UMC (United Microelectronics Corporation) to develop a 12nm process platform.

AMD

AMD has also made significant strides in the AI chip domain.

The company demonstrated its presence as a formidable force in the AI semiconductor market when it launched the MI300X GPU and MI300A APU in December of the previous year, claiming to be about 1.6 times ahead of NVIDIA's GPUs at that time.

To further solidify its position, AMD has partnered with machine learning companies such as Hugging Face, enabling data scientists to more effectively utilize their hardware.

The competition between AMD and NVIDIA has always been fierce, with AMD's market capitalization standing at approximately $263.88 billion and its stock price at $163.28. AMD reported a total debt of $3 billion for 2023. However, the revenue growth rate for this chip design company is projected to reach 25.99%, increasing from $22.68 billion in 2023 to $26.06 billion in 2024.

NVIDIA

NVIDIA is renowned for designing GPUs for markets such as gaming as well as for data science, machine learning, and AI-driven applications.

In addition to Tesla using the company's AI chips in self-driving cars, NVIDIA GPUs are also extensively utilized in data centers to accelerate AI workloads, with clients including Google, Amazon, and Microsoft.According to The Economist, Nvidia processors dominate the artificial intelligence chip market, with an estimated 95% share. As of April 2024, the company's market value is around $2.22 trillion, with a stock price of approximately $881.

Its total debt for the last quarter was $11.05 billion, peaking at $12.03 billion in January 2023. The company recently announced that it expects revenues for the next fiscal year to reach $110.57 billion.

Recently, Nvidia has launched a new artificial intelligence chip—the Blackwell B200—which is expected to be adopted by many tech giants, including Google, Meta, Amazon, Dell Technologies, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, and Tesla.