Forbes interview nvidia Huang Renxun: How GPU goes beyond CPU

"NetEase Science and Technology News" June 5, according to the Forbes website reported that Huang Renxun in 1993 to create Nvidia company, and successfully built the company into a graphics chip in the field of middle-aged revenue of 3 billion U.S. dollars of giant aircraft carrier. But Huang Renxun is not satisfied with making its chips a mere appendage of a traditional microprocessor. In this increasingly video-dominated world, he argues, graphic processing technology will lead to strong changes in computing environments. The following is a written transcript of an interview with Huang Renxun by Quintin Hade, a Silicon Valley branch director of Forbes magazine, Quentin Hardy.

Forbes: Now I'm interviewing Huang Renxun, co-founder and CEO of the Nvidia company. Nvidia produces graphics chips, and the integration of a large number of small cores in semiconductors can only handle small amounts of information, but it brings a perfect image experience for gamers. But you know what? They found that the large number of kernels can not only generate image experience, but also apply to ... Please let Mr. Huang share the story with us.

Huang Renxun: Graphics chips can also be applied to all compute-intensive applications, from the computational fluid dynamics that people try to simulate how air flows through cars, to the molecular dynamics that attempt to simulate a virus. Therefore, the application of GPUs (graphic processing unit) Parallel operation Architecture is absolutely amazing.

Forbes: At present, the graphics business has accounted for the Nvida company's revenue share of One-third. Other areas you dabble with, such as three-dimensional or four-dimension models for businesses, supercomputers, mobile devices, or netbooks, occupy the rest of the company's revenue share.

Huang Renxun: Yes.

Now is the best time to talk about the effects of GPU. Could you tell us how this will affect the semiconductor industry and the industry as a whole?

If you look at the PC industry, you will find that we have effectively used the same architecture for 25 years. In the past 25 years, the continuous progress of semiconductor technology has benefited us greatly. Every 1.5 or every two years, the technology will be doubled in speed.

You know, no other industry in the world has developed as rapidly as our industry, whether in the automotive or other industries. Suddenly one day found that the computer architecture invented before 30 encountered insurmountable obstacles. Now, everyone is talking about the semiconductor speed no longer increases, the application speed is no longer elevated.

A chip is an electronic product with great power consumption. Therefore, the computer industry is hovering at the crossroads of development. This is why the GPU computing technology that we have invented has inspired the imagination of the entire industry. Microsoft, which owns Windows 7, will have DirectX operations, which are essentially GPU operations. Apple, which uses the Snow Leopard operating system as its platform, will also adopt open CL, the GPU version of the application on their operating system. Therefore, the world's most important two operating systems will suddenly have GPU operations, or integration into the GPU of parallel computing technology core.

Forbes: In PCs, can you just enjoy quality versions of cartoons on your own computer? Is that why you put it into it?

Huang Renxun: Amazingly, it initially involved a visual computing application. Also involved in image processing and video processing.

Images and video are essentially computational-intensive. If you make a home movie, you need to edit it and then record it as a DVD so that you can send the video to your grandparents. Making this family movie, even if it doesn't take one months, would at least be a waste of a weekend's time.

With the help of GPU operations, we can quickly convert video code. A movie with a time of one hour basically no longer needs to spend the whole weekend converting the code into a DVD, and instead, we may only need half an hour to get it done.

Forbes: This is in the interests of consumers. In addition, the GPU is also used for mobile devices such as mobile phones. How will this technology affect the industry? What will happen to the super operation or model? What are the benefits of such operations?

Huang Renxun: You know, the number of processors embedded in our GPU is 200 times times the number of processors embedded in most computers. These processors are organized in what we call "throughput Computing" (throughput Computing), which you cannot achieve on traditional microprocessors. If you embed these GPU on a server, such as Tsubame (a supercomputer based on the NVIDIA GPU) at the Japanese Supercomputing Center, you will have the world's 29th-fastest supercomputer.

Forbes: Does this mean that users will have to write different code and have all the new employees trained to operate a variety of multi-core processors produced by your company?

Huang Renxun: Yes.

"Forbes": Because these will hinder your development.

Huang Renxun: But the timing of their emergence is indeed very good. Remember that the industry as a whole is trying to put the processing of multi-core in the first place.

"Forbes": Yes. But that is the tri-core and four-core, not the 60-or more-nuclear.

Huang Renxun: It turns out that you redesign your algorithms to operate on more than one kernel, perhaps, and you might as well redesign it to run on multi-core. If you're going to refactor or redesign the algorithms anyway, you might want to redesign the algorithms completely. I think we are in the best time of development. You know, the CPU has encountered insurmountable obstacles, everyone is looking at multi-core. As for multi-core, the result is not up to the expectation of the outside world. We have introduced the so-called CUDA (C-language compiler in GPU) technology and GPU operations. Suddenly, the speed of the operation increased 50 times times, 100 times times or even 200 times times. Users have been stunned by this unprecedented acceleration.

Forbes: How long does it take to be popular in the workplace?

Huang Renxun: By the end of next year, you will see most of the world's PCs using GPU (graphics processor) computing.

"Forbes": Really?

Huang Renxun: By that time, a GPU operation will be used for each individual workstation. I think that the vast majority of the world's clusters, more precisely, the vast majority of high-performance clusters will be in the internal use of GPU operations. As Microsoft uses the DirectX Compute Computing application interface on Windows 7, and Apple also plans to use the interface on Snow leopard, almost overnight, you'll need to find a foothold in the vast market for GPU computing. This is a very, very important thing.

Forbes: You've been working in Silicon Valley for a long time. So from what year did you start to dive into the video field?

Huang Renxun: 1993 years.

Forbes: Tell me about the distractions you've encountered that have caused the company to run aground or face extraordinary pressure.

What does interference mean to you? Share with me your journey and the lessons learned from it.

Huang Renxun: There are many different types of disturbances. Let's talk about market turmoil first. In this case, market leaders will change their strategy to some extent or merge to some extent, otherwise they will help to increase market chaos.

The combination of AMD and ATI is a good example of how the deal forces us to reconsider our market entry strategy. We used to make chipsets for each AMD microprocessor from top to bottom. After AMD acquired ATI, this became a lack of logical decision. To this end, we decided that we should change our strategy by fully investing in AMD chipsets to the focus on the Intel (blog) platform.

Our chip ion is the result of a change in strategy. You know, it took us a whole year to complete the transition, from the AMD market to the Intel market. Although this is a long and painful process, but we have successfully built the fastest growing business, that is, Ion. Ion is essentially a single chip GPU that integrates all system logic. The combination of the same microprocessor produces an amazing PC.

Forbes: So, you lose your business and think, "How can we grow into a company like our competitors or better than our rivals?" How do you work with your competitors?

Huang Renxun: Market restructuring is sudden, it disrupts your business and you have to rethink your own entry strategy. This is an example.

Forbes: Who will be the object of your interference?

Huang Renxun: There is no doubt that the GPU has developed into a technology that is enough to cause confusion. In the past, the GPU was often viewed as an enhanced technology. After installing the GPU on your personal computer, you can get a better picture. Who's going to support the GPU? Video gamers will do that, and the content designers and car designers of workstations will do the same. In addition, only a very small number of people are willing to install the GPU. That's why people say that the GPU is for video gamers or computer graphics personnel.

Forbes: But now, you're creating a GPU as an important tool for data analysis.

Huang Renxun: Now the GPU is a multi-function parallel computing processor. Microsoft and Apple have included them in their operating systems.

Forbes: So, who's going to be a bad day? Who's going to be the object of distraction?

Huang Renxun: I don't know who will have a hard time. As you know, those who are indifferent to the GPU will be disturbed. But we do know who will be the beneficiaries. We know that the software industry shows incredible enthusiasm for the GPU. They don't have enough computational horsepower to develop more interesting apps.

Almost overnight, we gave them 100 times times the horsepower of the calculation. This platform is no different to them than the previous platform. If someone gives you a 100 times-fold tool for computing power, you can imagine that some really great software will be born with the help of this tool. Software developers, Adobe, Microsoft, Apple, game developers, workstation software companies will truly become the beneficiaries of the GPU. They show a real sense of excitement about the GPU. What we want to see is that consumers can see the huge benefits of GPU computing in the short term.

Forbes: Last question, who would you ask for advice? Where do you get these great ideas and why are you so confident in your strategy?

Huang Renxun: All great ideas put their antennae up high, and 24 hours a day to keep up with what's going on around the world. You know, I've been listening to the information about my Children (GPU), how people think about them, and what they do. I really know exactly how they are calculated.

I am very aware of their parameters and applications. You have to know exactly which industries are growing or stagnating. For example, cloud computing is clearly going to be a trend in the future and will have a significant impact on how we make computers.

Forbes: You want to develop devices for both ends, the client side and the access side.

Huang Renxun: The goal is to let cloud computing develop into a fast lane, allowing people to enjoy the benefits of cloud computing. So I think the answer is that you have to be really consistent with market trends.

Forbes: But by that time, there will be search and filtering problems. If you listen to everything, how do you know when things are true?

Huang Renxun: Isn't that what great thinkers are supposed to do?

"Forbes": Yes. I still want to pry into your heart's secret. If it's true, how do you know?

Huang Renxun: To a large extent, rely on intuition. In my opinion, I am surrounded by a group of intuitive people whose ideas are logical, sensitive to things and very intelligent. You must listen to other people's opinions and thoughts so that you can really understand what you want to know.

In creating something great, inventors and innovators must assess the risks they may face. If we put forward 10 great ideas that are really popular in the market, then we have put forward 50 ideas that are not popular in the market. Innovators never worry about trying new things that are not liked by the market.

So are we. I would not be ashamed or sorry if I created something that was not recognized by the market. The whole thing was just something we tried and proved to be a failure. A wise innovator forgets this failure as quickly as possible and makes other attempts.

Forbes: You want to try and learn and have to do the same.

Huang Renxun: That's it. I think intuition plays a key role. Intuition can be a code of all your life, educational experience and everything else if you want to.

"Forbes": Experience and imagination?

Huang Renxun: Yes. But I can hardly use a word to describe it.