Opinion articles

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Not just the hardware: How deep is Nvidia's software moat?

The inherent inertia of software ecosystems
The big picture: Starting tomorrow, Nvidia is hosting its GTC developer conference. Once a sideshow for semis, the event has transformed into the center of attention for much of the industry. With Nvidia's rise, many have been asking the extent to which Nvidia's software provides a durable competitive moat for its hardware. As we have been getting a lot of questions about that, we want to lay out our thoughts here.
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Wrestling with AI and the AIpocalypse we should be worried about

Some would argue that AI is a fad, the next bubble waiting to burst
Editor's take: Like almost everyone in tech today, we have spent the past year trying to wrap our heads around "AI". What it is, how it works, and what it means for the industry. We are not sure that we have any good answers, but a few things have been clear. Maybe AGI (artificial general intelligence) will emerge, or we'll see some other major AI breakthrough, but focusing too much on those risks could be overlooking the very real – but also very mundane – improvements that transformer networks are already delivering.
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IBM extends its goals for AI and quantum computing, shows off roadmap

Forward-looking: While no one doubts the heritage of tech advancements that IBM has made over recent decades, there are certainly those who've started to wonder if the company is able to sustain those types of efforts into the future. At a recent analyst day held at the historic Thomas J. Watson Research Center, IBM made a convincing argument that they are up to the task, especially in the fields of AI as well as quantum computing.
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Apple M3 and the state of CPUs

Is it Apple and everyone else, even for CPUs?
The big picture: Apple's M3 launch stood out for its focus on how people actually use computers, the lack of AI acronyms and the fact that they launched three chips all at once. It is only getting harder to compete with them. As with all things Apple, the M3 has been extensively covered in the press, but beyond the performance metrics, a few things stood out for us, and here's our thesis on the overall sector.