NVIDIA has officially confirmed that its CPU business is a powerful, new growth engine, separate from its already massive GPU revenue forecasts.
During its recent earnings call, CEO Jensen Huang made a crucial clarification: the company's staggering $1 trillion revenue opportunity for its Blackwell and Rubin platforms does not include sales from its standalone 'Vera' CPUs. The CFO then added concrete numbers, stating there is "visibility into nearly $20 billion in CPU revenue this year" alone. This move clearly defines the CPU business as a distinct, additional upside, putting to rest any concerns about double-counting.
So, what's driving this sudden focus on CPUs? The answer lies in the evolution of AI itself.
First, we are entering the era of 'Agentic AI'. These are more advanced AIs that can reason, use tools, and execute complex, multi-step tasks autonomously. These "agentic" workloads are heavily dependent on CPUs for orchestration and execution, turning the CPU into the 'brain' of the AI system. NVIDIA's Vera CPU, with its 88 Arm-based cores and high-speed interconnects like NVLink-C2C, is purpose-built for this new demand.
Second, this is happening within a booming market. Hyperscalers are projected to spend over $725 billion on AI infrastructure in 2026, and the overall semiconductor market is forecast to reach $1.3 trillion. This massive wave of investment creates the perfect environment for NVIDIA to introduce a new, high-value component into the data center stack.
Third, the demand isn't just theoretical. NVIDIA has already begun direct deliveries of Vera CPU systems to leading AI labs, including Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceX's xAI. This early adoption by key players is a powerful signal that the market is ready and eager for a high-performance CPU tailored for AI.
This strategy also positions NVIDIA in the server CPU market, traditionally dominated by x86 players like Intel and AMD. While NVIDIA will still partner with them, offering its own standalone Vera CPU allows it to capture a much larger slice of the total system value. It's a move to control more of the AI data center, from the GPU accelerator to the CPU orchestrator.
In short, NVIDIA's recent announcements have elevated its CPU from a supporting part to a star player. By clearly separating it from the GPU forecast and demonstrating real-world demand, the company has unveiled a significant, new pillar for its future growth.
- Agentic AI: An advanced type of AI that can autonomously plan and execute complex tasks by reasoning and using various software tools.
- Orchestration: The automated management and coordination of complex computer systems and software. In AI, it refers to the CPU's role in directing tasks and managing resources.
- TTM (Trailing Twelve Months): A financial term for data from the past 12 consecutive months, used to show a company's most recent performance.