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Nvidia Unveils Blackwell Ultra and Rubin AI Chips for Next-Gen Computing!

  • Senior Writer
  • March 19, 2025
    Updated
nvidia-unveils-blackwell-ultra-and-rubin-ai-chips-for-next-gen-computing

Key Takeaways

  • NVIDIA unveiled Blackwell Ultra GB300 and Vera Rubin GPUs at GTC 2025, signaling its shift to an annual AI chip release cycle.
  • Blackwell Ultra, launching in late 2025, features 20 petaflops AI compute and 288GB HBM3e memory, optimizing token processing speeds for AI inference.
  • Vera Rubin, shipping in 2026, introduces NVIDIA’s first custom CPU (Vera) alongside Rubin GPUs, doubling AI performance with a dual-GPU design.
  • NVIDIA confirmed Rubin Ultra for 2027 and Feynman architecture for 2028, continuing its aggressive roadmap for AI computing dominance.
  • Stock market reaction was mixed, with a 3% drop, as investors scrutinized NVIDIA’s AI chip improvements against competition like DeepSeek R1.

At the 2025 GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in San Jose, California, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang revealed the company’s latest AI chip architectures, reinforcing its dominant role in AI infrastructure.

The Blackwell Ultra GB300, set for release in late 2025, and the Vera Rubin architecture, expected in 2026, headline NVIDIA’s push toward faster AI model training and inference.

These announcements come amid NVIDIA’s shift to an annual chip release cycle, a change from its previous biennial update strategy.

Huang confirmed that NVIDIA’s AI computing roadmap extends through 2028, with Rubin Ultra in 2027 and the Feynman architecture in 2028.

While Blackwell Ultra focuses on optimizing inference speeds, Vera Rubin will introduce NVIDIA’s first custom CPU and a new GPU architecture, built to handle more complex AI workloads.


Blackwell Ultra GB300: Incremental Improvements or a Game-Changer?

The Blackwell Ultra GB300 represents an iteration on the existing Blackwell GPUs, rather than an entirely new architecture.

Despite this, it brings several crucial upgrades that enhance AI inference performance, including:

  • 20 petaflops of AI compute power, keeping pace with the existing Blackwell GPUs but optimizing efficiency.
  • 288GB of HBM3e memory, a notable upgrade from the 192GB in Blackwell, allowing larger AI models to be processed in real-time.
  • A redesigned NVL72 rack, engineered to process tokens significantly faster, with NVIDIA claiming a 10x increase in token throughput compared to its 2022 Hopper GPUs.

This focus on higher token processing speeds is key to large-scale AI applications, particularly for cloud providers like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, who are under pressure to deliver faster and more responsive AI services.

What Does This Mean for AI Workloads?

The major value proposition of Blackwell Ultra lies in its efficiency improvements rather than a radical jump in raw processing power.

NVIDIA claims that by reducing power consumption per AI operation, cloud providers can increase monetization—offering faster AI inference at premium rates.

Huang stated, “With Blackwell Ultra, cloud providers can now generate up to 50 times more revenue per chip compared to the Hopper generation.”

This economic angle is critical—companies investing billions into NVIDIA-powered AI infrastructure need assurances that their spending translates into profitable AI services.

However, some investors were unimpressed with Blackwell Ultra’s moderate performance gains, leading to a 3% dip in NVIDIA’s stock.


Vera Rubin: The Shift to Custom AI Hardware (2026)

Moving beyond incremental upgrades, NVIDIA’s Vera Rubin architecture, arriving in 2026, marks a major strategic shift in its hardware approach.

For the first time, NVIDIA will introduce its own custom CPU (Vera) alongside its Rubin GPUs.

Key features include:

  • A new CPU architecture, Vera, built on NVIDIA’s custom Olympus core design, replacing off-the-shelf ARM CPUs.
  • 50 petaflops of FP4 inference performance, more than double that of Blackwell Ultra.
  • A dual-GPU design, merging two Rubin GPUs into a single AI compute unit, allowing faster parallel processing.
  • 3.6 exaflops of FP4 inference compute in an NVL144 rack, a 3.3x increase over Blackwell Ultra’s NVL72 rack.

Why Is NVIDIA Developing Its Own CPU?

NVIDIA’s move to a custom CPU (Vera) is significant.

Previously, NVIDIA relied on off-the-shelf ARM cores for its AI systems. However, companies like Apple and Qualcomm have demonstrated that custom-designed ARM cores unlock superior performance and efficiency.

By developing its own ARM-based CPU, NVIDIA aims to optimize its AI chips even further, reducing latency and maximizing power efficiency.

Huang emphasized the importance of this shift, stating:

“With Vera Rubin, we are not just building a GPU—we are creating an integrated AI computing platform that unifies CPU, GPU, and memory into a single, seamless system.”

This hints at NVIDIA’s broader ambitions—controlling both the AI processor and its supporting infrastructure, rather than depending on third-party CPU designs.


DeepSeek R1 and AI Reasoning: Competitive Pressures on NVIDIA

A major underlying concern for investors has been the rise of China’s DeepSeek R1 AI model, which reportedly achieves similar performance using fewer GPUs.

Initially, this raised fears that AI efficiency improvements might reduce demand for NVIDIA’s chips.

However, Huang dismissed these concerns, arguing that newer AI models demand even greater inference power.

“DeepSeek is a breakthrough in AI reasoning, but it requires significantly more compute at inference time. This is exactly why Blackwell Ultra and Rubin will be indispensable.”

In other words, even if AI models require fewer GPUs to train, their real-time execution demands more power than ever before—ensuring that NVIDIA’s AI chips remain in high demand.

This framing reassured some investors, though skepticism remains about whether NVIDIA can maintain its high-profit margins amid increasing AI efficiency.


Stock Market Reaction and Financial Outlook

Despite the technological advancements, NVIDIA’s stock dropped 3% after the announcement.

Analysts cited several factors for this decline:

  1. High expectations: Investors expected a more dramatic performance leap from Blackwell Ultra.
  2. Competition from DeepSeek R1: While Huang downplayed the risk, some believe AI efficiency improvements could slow down NVIDIA’s sales growth.
  3. Macroeconomic concerns: The semiconductor market has been experiencing fluctuations, with some investors questioning how long NVIDIA’s AI boom can last.

Despite this short-term market reaction, NVIDIA remains extremely profitable, generating $2,300 in profit every second, largely due to the AI-driven surge in data center revenue.

Huang remained confident, stating: “The industry needs 100 times more compute than we thought last year. We are just getting started.”


NVIDIA confirmed that it will continue its aggressive AI chip development roadmap, with:

  • Rubin Ultra (2027): A quad-GPU version of Rubin, doubling performance again.
  • Feynman (2028): Expected to introduce an even larger AI compute scale, potentially redefining AI supercomputing.

These long-term commitments indicate NVIDIA’s strategy—staying ahead of AI hardware demands before competitors catch up.


NVIDIA’s GTC 2025 announcements solidified its dominance in AI hardware, particularly through its AI reasoning models, custom CPUs, and multi-GPU designs.

For now, NVIDIA remains the undisputed leader in AI chips, but its ability to innovate beyond 2025 will determine whether it can sustain its dominance in the years to come.

March 18, 2025: Nvidia’s CEO Faces AI Competition—Can It Keep Its Edge?

February 27, 2025: Nvidia’s AI Boom Continues—Record-Breaking Q4 Sales Fueled by AI Demand!

February 26, 2025: Cisco & NVIDIA Double Down on AI—New Partnership Aims at Enterprise Growth!

For more news and insights, visit AI News on our website.

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Digital marketing enthusiast by day, nature wanderer by dusk. Dave Andre blends two decades of AI and SaaS expertise into impactful strategies for SMEs. His weekends? Lost in books on tech trends and rejuvenating on scenic trails.

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