Intel is rolling out a new version of its artificial intelligence chip, aiming to challenge Nvidia in one of the fastest-growing parts of the semiconductor industry.

The updated processor, called Gaudi 3, will be widely available in the third quarter, Intel said at a company event Tuesday. The chip is designed to boost performance in two key areas: helping train AI systems — a process that involves bombarding them with data — and running the finished software.

Booming demand for AI services has sent tech companies scrambling for these so-called accelerator chips, but Nvidia has seen most of the benefit. Earlier versions of Gaudi failed to achieve the market share gains that Intel had been hoping for, Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger has said. He expects the new model to have a bigger impact.

“They’re a good competitor, but people want an alternative,” he said Tuesday of Nvidia. “The world needs more suppliers, and we’re quite dedicated to providing that choice.”

Intel shares gained were up less than 1 percent at $38 as of 1:33 p.m. in New York on Tuesday, reversing an earlier decline. They had been down 24 percent this year through Monday’s close.

Gelsinger declined to give pricing but said that his chips would be “a lot below” the cost of Nvidia’s current and future chips. They’ll provide an “extremely good” total cost of ownership, he said.

Challenging Nvidia won’t be easy. The runaway success of that company’s H100 accelerator helped more than double revenue and sent its market valuation over $2 trillion (roughly Rs. 1,66,39,120 crore). And now Nvidia is looking to build on its lead with a just-announced chip platform called Blackwell. Systems based on that product will be available later this year, the company said in March.

According to Intel’s assessment, Gaudi 3 will be faster and more power-efficient than the H100. It will train certain types of AI models 1.7 times more quickly and be 1.5 times better at running the software, the chipmaker claims. The product will be roughly equal with Nvidia’s newer H200, Intel said, performing slightly better in some areas and a bit behind in others.

Intel, based in Santa Clara, California, said it can’t provide comparisons with Nvidia’s upcoming Blackwell line until those products are publicly available. Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices — its longtime competitor in personal computer processors — also is pushing into the field. It unveiled an accelerator lineup called MI300 in December.

Intel’s Gelsinger has said that he’s not just trying to catch up with Nvidia. He expects AI to bring a bigger windfall for the industry — especially as the technology spreads beyond its current concentration in the data centers of companies such as Microsoft and Alphabet’s Google. Personal computers, mobile phones and networking gear will require chips that are able to handle AI tasks and provide users with instantaneous feedback — something that’s not always possible with remote server farms.

When Intel announced its fourth-quarter results in late January, Gelsinger said he was increasing the supply of Gaudi to meet growing orders and that the company has a “pipeline” for 2024 of “above $2 billion and growing.” The broader market for corporate spending on generative AI gear will increase from $40 billion (roughly Rs. 3,32,784 crore) in 2024 to $151 billion (roughly Rs. 12,56,387 crore) in 2027, Intel said, citing market research.

But that just underscores how much of a lead Nvidia has. The company had data center revenue of more than $47 billion (roughly Rs. 3,91,061 crore) during the 12 months ended in January. In its current fiscal year, that total will top $95 billion (roughly Rs. 7,90,442 crore), according to analysts’ estimates.

© 2024 Bloomberg LP

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Perhaps the most widely rumored upgrade for the iPad Pro 2024 is a move to OLED screen technology, in place of the mini-LED screen on the iPad Pro 12.9 (2022) and the LCD display on the iPad Pro 11 (2022). This change would likely improve the screen’s contrast, and now Apple’s own software points in the direction of OLED too.

9to5Mac has found new display firmware for as-yet-unannounced iPad models in code from the iPadOS 17.5 beta, and claims that the firmware suggests these upcoming iPads will have OLED screens. Since this is official Apple software, that’s pretty close to a confirmation that OLED is planned.

Google introduced new artificial intelligence (AI) features for its enterprise-focused cloud-based suite of productivity and collaboration tools, Google Workspace, on Tuesday. The announcements were made during the company’s annual Google Cloud Next event. The main highlight of the announcements was the new Google Vids app, an AI-powered video generation tool. New features have also been added to Google Meet, Gmail, Docs, Sheet, and more. Notably, the tech giant also announced new capabilities in its image-generating AI model Imagen 2.

The announcements were shared by Aparna Pappu, Vice President and General Manager, Google Workspace, in a blog post. The biggest addition was Google Vids, which the company positioned as a “video creation app for work”. It is not a video generation tool, but the AI can generate a storyboard that can be edited. Users are required to choose a style and a template to begin with, and then it picks stock videos, images, and background music to create a video based on prompts. Users can also add voiceovers by either selecting pre-set voices in the platform or using their own.

Google Meet is also getting an interesting feature. Earlier, the videoconferencing platform received a caption translation feature which allowed users to get a translated caption by manually selecting a preferred language. Now, Meet can automatically detect and translate captions in the user’s preferred language by listening to the language the user is speaking in. The tech giant is also adding 52 new languages in translated captions, bringing the total to 69 languages.

Apart from this, Google Sheets is getting a new ‘tables’ feature that can format and organise data. The company has upgraded the design of the workflow of the feature, making it more intuitive. A new set of templates has been added to fit more workspace use cases. Docs users will also get a new ‘tabs’ experience. The Search Engine maker said it will allow users to organise related information in a single document. People can also add full-screen cover images to personalise documents.

Finally, Gmail is also getting updated with new AI features. The ‘Help me write on Gmail’ mobile feature now comes with audio prompts capability, and users can speak their prompts to get an AI-generated email. The company also touted a new polish feature in Gemini in Gmail that will take rough notes and convert them into a complete email draft without any prompts. These features will be available to Gemini Enterprise, Gemini Business, and Google One AI Premium subscribers.

All of these features have either already been released or will be rolled out in the coming weeks.

Information sharing is a crucial foundation for all businesses. Without it, most would fail to get anything done. This considered, it’s no surprise that document management forms an important aspect of day-to-day operations and can impact the long-term productivity, success and resilience of a business.

Working patterns have changed rapidly over the last couple of years. How organizations collaborate and manage information has evolved as employees are now able to choose how and where they work. Today, employers are managing a more ‘nomadic’ workforce, leaning on workplace technology to facilitate ongoing demands to switch between remote, in-office and co-working environments. Now, leaders must ensure the infrastructure for information and document sharing remains fit for purpose outside the office walls, to ensure productivity remains intact wherever workers decide to log on.

Asus is all set to release the ZenBook Duo 2024 (UX8406) laptop next week in India. Ahead of the official launch, the Taiwanese electronics maker has started taking pre-bookings for the dual touch screen laptop. The Asus ZenBook Duo was initially showcased during the Consumer Electronics Show in February. It is equipped with up to Intel Core Ultra 9 processor and backed by a 75Whr battery. The Asus ZenBook Duo comes with dual 14-inch full-HD+ OLED displays, a detachable keyboard, and a built-in metal kickstand.

The Asus ZenBook Duo will be launched in India on April 16 at 12:00pm IST. Asus has started pre-bookings for the laptop through the company’s exclusive stores, Asus eStore, Amazon, and Flipkart. Customers pre-ordering the new laptop can avail benefits worth Rs. 20,398 for just Rs. 1. This bundle includes the Asus ProArt Mouse (MD 300), a two-year warranty extension, and three years of local accidental damage protection. The pre-booking will be open until April 15.

The price details of the Asus ZenBook Duo 2024 have not been announced by the brand yet, but it is currently shown with a starting price tag of Rs. 1,59,990 for the Intel Core Ultra 5 variant with 16GB RAM and 1TB storage. 

As mentioned, the Asus ZenBook Duo was first unveiled during CES 2024. The dual-screen laptop runs on Windows 11 Home and comes with two OLED touchscreens and a detachable full-size keyboard with a touchpad. It includes an inbuilt metal kickstand and a 180-degree hinge. The laptop features dual 14-inch full-HD+ OLED displays with Dolby Vision support, up to 500 nits brightness, and 91 percent screen-to-body ratio. Users can expand the display to 19.8 inches.

The Asus ZenBook Duo is configurable with up to AI-powered Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor alongside Intel Arc GPU, up to 32 GB LPDDR5x memory, and up to a 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD. It supports the Intel Evo platform and is backed by a 75Whr battery. The battery is claimed to offer up to 13 hours of usage on a single charge. It comes with a 65W charger that is claimed to offer up to 60 percent battery with just a 49-minute charge. It offers Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3connectivity, as well as a 1080p web camera.

Apple has assembled $14 billion (roughly Rs. 1,16,442 crore) worth of iPhones in India in fiscal 2024, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.

Apple now makes as much as 14 percent or about 1 in 7 of its marquee devices from India, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Foxconn assembled nearly 67 percent while Pegatron made about 17 percent of the India-made iPhones, the Bloomberg report added. Wistron Corp’s plant in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, which the Tata Group took over last year, made the remaining.

Apple declined to comment on the Bloomberg report.

Apple is increasingly looking to diversify its supply chain beyond China amid geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Washington, even as China remains the largest iPhone-making hub in the world.

Reuters reported on Monday that Pegatron is in advanced talks to hand over control of its only iPhone manufacturing facility, located near Chennai in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, to the Tata Group.

Under the deal, which has received the backing of Apple, Tata plans to hold at least a 65 percent stake in a joint venture that will operate the Pegatron plant near Chennai, with the Taiwanese firm providing technical support and holding the rest, one of the sources said.

The Indian consumer goods conglomerate is also building another plant in Hosur in Tamil Nadu, with Pegatron likely to emerge as its joint venture partner.

In January, the Indian government cut the import duty on some parts used in making mobile phones to 10 percent from 15 percent, a move benefiting companies like Apple and Xiaomi that manufacture in Asia’s third-largest economy.

© Thomson Reuters 2024

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