# Ep. 29 | NVIDIA CTO Michael Kagan on the New Age of AI and Supercomputers

- Show: [Moore's Lobby](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby)
- Published: 2021-09-07
- Length: 43m
- Episode: 2
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2021-09-07-ep-29-nvidia-cto-michael-kagan-on-the-new-age-of-ai-and-supercomputers
- Listen: https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/podcast/ep-29-nvidia-cto-michael-kagan-on-the-new-age-of-processing

## Summary

Michael Kagan, CTO of NVIDIA, discusses the evolution of high-performance computing, tracing his career from Intel and the 860 processor to co-founding Mellanox and its eventual acquisition by NVIDIA. He explains how NVIDIA has shifted from a graphics company to an accelerated computing platform, integrating GPUs, CPUs, and DPUs to support AI workloads. Kagan emphasizes that modern data centers function as unified computing units, delivering processing as a service rather than standalone hardware, driven by the massive computational demands of training neural networks.

## Chapters

- [0:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2021-09-07-ep-29-nvidia-cto-michael-kagan-on-the-new-age-of-ai-and-supercomputers#t=1) Introduction: Michael Kagan and NVIDIA's Evolution
- [3:56](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2021-09-07-ep-29-nvidia-cto-michael-kagan-on-the-new-age-of-ai-and-supercomputers#t=236) Intel Career: The 860 Processor and Software Ecosystem
- [10:17](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2021-09-07-ep-29-nvidia-cto-michael-kagan-on-the-new-age-of-ai-and-supercomputers#t=617) Co-founding Mellanox and InfiniBand Technology
- [17:30](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2021-09-07-ep-29-nvidia-cto-michael-kagan-on-the-new-age-of-ai-and-supercomputers#t=1050) NVIDIA's Acquisition of Mellanox and GPU Clustering
- [23:42](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2021-09-07-ep-29-nvidia-cto-michael-kagan-on-the-new-age-of-ai-and-supercomputers#t=1422) The Three Pillars of Data Center Computing: CPU, GPU, DPU
- [27:19](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2021-09-07-ep-29-nvidia-cto-michael-kagan-on-the-new-age-of-ai-and-supercomputers#t=1639) Data Centers as the New Unit of Computing
- [32:13](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2021-09-07-ep-29-nvidia-cto-michael-kagan-on-the-new-age-of-ai-and-supercomputers#t=1933) Simulation, Digital Twins, and Edge Computing
- [38:10](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2021-09-07-ep-29-nvidia-cto-michael-kagan-on-the-new-age-of-ai-and-supercomputers#t=2290) Security, Gaming, and the Future of AR

## Topics

- [Chips, FPGAs & semiconductors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/chips-and-fpgas)
- [Connected products & IoT](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/connected-products-and-iot)
- [Security & privacy](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/security-and-privacy)
- [AI & machine learning](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/ai-and-machine-learning)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)

## Most relevant to

large enterprises

## Mentioned

- NVIDIA (company)
- Intel (company)
- Mellanox (company)
- 860 processor (chip)
- InfiniBand (other)
- DPU (chip)
- ARM (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Heterogeneous Computing with Raja Koduri](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-07-18-heterogeneous-computing-with-raja-koduri) (Oxide and Friends)
- [From Data Centers to Devices – The Ongoing [R]Evolution of AI Computing](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ee-times-current/2022-02-11-from-data-centers-to-devices-the-ongoing-r-evolution-of-ai-computing) (EE Times Current)
- [Episode 110: NVIDIA's Identity Crisis](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-circuit/2025-03-24-episode-110-nvidias-identity-crisis) (The Circuit)
- [Episode 32: Nvidia and the AI Raging Bull](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-circuit/2023-09-05-episode-32-nvidia-and-the-ai-raging-bull) (The Circuit)
- [Episode 60: Takeaways, observations, and insights from Nvidia GTC](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-circuit/2024-03-25-episode-60-takeaways-observations-and-insights-from-nvidia-gtc) (The Circuit)

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