Nvidia’s New Product Pivots the Trillion-Dollar Edge AI Market. Can Chinese Enterprises Overtake on a Curve?
In previous articles, we explored the rise of small models on the end side and edge side. Now, small models on the edge side have become a development trend. AI models need hardware carriers. In the face of the development of edge AI, is edge hardware ready? The implementation of generative AI models cannot be separated from the support of edge hardware.
The computing power of edge devices is increasing day by day and can complete small model inference tasks without networking, broadening application scenarios. With the development of small models, many enterprises have launched edge intelligent development boards optimized for them. Nvidia released a new product, Jetson Orin Nano Super, last week. It has strong performance and the price is directly reduced by half, only 249 dollars. This will set off an edge AI revolution and also bring opportunities to Chinese enterprises.
Redefining the Possibility of Edge AI: The range of AI hardware on the end side and edge side is extensive. In a broad sense, any hardware that can complete AI inference tasks without networking belongs to edge AI. The edge side has higher requirements for computing power and power consumption. AI industrial computers are typical applications. Nvidia’s new product is an upgraded version of the Jetson Nano series and can be called the “king of cost performance”. The performance is greatly improved, the price is reduced, the AI inference performance is increased by 1.7 times, the overall performance is skyrocketed by 70% to 67 TOPS@INT8, the memory bandwidth is increased, the CPU frequency is increased, the whole machine is small in size, and the power consumption is only 25 watts. It supports four cameras, bringing gains to generative AI models and computer vision algorithms, allowing developers to achieve efficient AI computing on the edge side and reducing costs and latency.
Impact of US Chip Restrictions on China: On the day after the release of the new product, the US Department of Commerce asked Nvidia to investigate the flow of products into mainland China. However, most chips used in consumer electronics are not affected, and Nvidia’s Jetson series can be sold normally in China.
The Era of High Cost Performance of Edge AI Is Coming: Nvidia’s new product will trigger fierce competition in AI development boards. There are many similar products on the market. Once, a developer compared three popular development boards and found that none of them reached the official maximum efficiency. The era of high cost performance and strong computing power AI development boards has arrived. Nvidia also plans to launch Jetson Thor, and OpenAI plans to release the AI agent Operator. The “Andy-Bill Law” is repeated in the field of edge AI. Chinese enterprises are expected to occupy a place in the battle of edge AI development boards based on China’s progress in chip manufacturing and participation in the reconstruction of the “Andy-Bill Law”. China’s export volume of integrated circuits has exceeded the trillion-yuan mark, marking an increase in capabilities such as chip research and development. China has become the world’s largest chip producer, laying the foundation for participating in the competition in edge AI hardware.
Edge AI Is the Key to China’s Realization of the Integration of “Hardware + Services”: Nvidia’s new product provides opportunities for Chinese enterprises. China has advantages in hardware manufacturing, but problems such as insufficient domestic demand due to “strong hardware and weak software” exist. Edge AI hardware combines AI computing with physical devices to provide local intelligent services. Taking service robots as an example, they integrate advanced technologies to provide personalized interactive services. China has a complete supply chain and a huge consumer market, providing conditions for the development of edge AI hardware. Chinese enterprises need to increase R & D investment, deepen industrial chain collaboration, innovate business models, cultivate developer ecosystems, pay attention to privacy protection, and actively participate in standard setting to form differentiated advantages in multiple dimensions in order to seize the initiative in the competition of edge AI.
Nvidia’s new product redefines the possibility of edge AI, sets off a battle of development boards, and brings opportunities to Chinese enterprises. Chinese enterprises can utilize their advantages in hardware manufacturing and improve service capabilities through edge AI to achieve a balanced development of manufacturing and service industries.
