Nvidia GTC 2018 Showcases Massive DGX-2 Server and Real-Time Ray Tracing
Nvidia's GTC 2018 conference highlights AI and deep learning with the unveiling of the 10kW DGX-2 server and new real-time ray tracing advancements. The company also addresses autonomous vehicle safety following a recent fatal accident.
Nvidia's annual GPU Technology Conference highlights artificial intelligence and deep learning advancements, skipping new gaming cards in favor of professional and data center hardware. CEO Jensen Huang takes the stage to unveil several groundbreaking products, including a new Volta-powered Quadro GV100 and significant strides in real-time ray tracing that push the boundaries of photo-realistic graphics.
The standout announcement is the DGX-2 server, which Nvidia bills as the world's largest GPU. This massive system crams sixteen Tesla V100 GPUs into a single chassis, providing a staggering 512GB of HBM2 memory and requiring a mind-bending 10kW of power. Nvidia's custom NVSwitch interconnect fabric ties these processors together to function as one cohesive unit with a unified memory space.
Amid these technological showcases, Huang addresses the recent fatal autonomous vehicle accident involving Uber with a somber tone. He explains that Nvidia designs its autonomous driving platforms with both redundancy and diversity to maximize safety, and reveals that the company temporarily suspends portions of its own self-driving program as a precaution. This safety-focused approach underpins Nvidia's broader push into robotics and AI-powered transportation.