Nvidia announces a "chip that will surprise the world." A revolution for gamers or for data centers?

Calendar 2/20/2026

Nvidia is once again heating up the atmosphere around its hardware plans. Jensen Huang announced the launch of a "chip that will surprise the world," and the industry is already trying to decipher what this phrase means. The declaration was made during an informal meeting with engineers in Santa Clara, as reported by The Korea Economic Daily. This was not an official presentation but a spontaneous Q&A after dinner. Such moments often reveal more than carefully prepared conferences. However, the key question is different. Will the announced chip have real significance for ordinary users, or is it just another step in the race for dominance in data centers?

Rubin, Feynman, or something completely new?

Nvidia has not provided any specifics. We do not know the name, segment, or parameters. This opens the floor to speculation. One candidate is the development of the Vera Rubin platform with HBM4 memories. It has already been officially announced, so it is hard to consider it a surprise element, but it is possible to showcase a more advanced version. The second hypothesis concerns the Feynman architecture, which has been the subject of industry rumors for months. There are talks about: greater integration of SRAM memory directly in the chip structure, aggressive use of 3D stacking technology, and further optimization for inference and working with large AI models. Such a system would be a natural step following the Hopper and Blackwell generations, which solidified Nvidia's position in the artificial intelligence sector.

Is there finally something for PC?

We cannot rule out a less obvious scenario. The industry has been talking for a long time about the N1X processor, which is ARM64 for personal computers. Such a chip could compete with the upcoming setups from Intel and open the doors for Nvidia into the classic PC market. The problem is that Huang has been focusing almost exclusively on AI and server infrastructure in his recent appearances. It is this segment that drives the company's valuation and investor interest. Therefore, the most likely scenario is another accelerator for data centers, rather than a graphics card for gamers.

Everything will be clarified during the Nvidia GTC 2026 conference, which will take place on March 16 in San Jose. This event has long been the stage for Nvidia's biggest launches and a signal of the direction in which the semiconductor industry is headed. If the announced chip turns out to be truly groundbreaking, it could further strengthen the company's dominance in the AI sector. For gamers and PC users, however, the most important thing will be whether the new technology translates in any way into consumer products.

Nvidia is once again building anticipation ahead of GTC. The slogan about the "chip that will surprise the world" sounds impressive, but for now we don't know if it's a breakthrough for the mass market or another step in the development of AI infrastructure for the largest tech companies. We will only find out the answer in March.

Source: The Korea Economic Daily

Katarzyna Petru Avatar
Katarzyna Petru

Journalist, reviewer, and columnist for the "ChooseTV" portal