Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang unveils new Rubin AI chips at GTC 2025

Nvidia founder Jensen Huang kicked off the company’s artificial intelligence developer conference on Tuesday by telling a crowd of thousands that AI is going through “an inflection point.”

At GTC 2025 — dubbed the “Super Bowl of AI” — Huang focused his keynote on the company’s advancements in AI and his predictions for how the industry will move over the next few years. Demand for GPUs from the top four cloud service providers is surging, he said, adding that he expects Nvidia’s data center infrastructure revenue to hit $1 trillion by 2028.

Huang’s highly anticipated announcement revealed more details around Nvidia’s next-generation graphics architectures: Blackwell Ultra and Vera Rubin -- named for the famous astronomer. Blackwell Ultra is slated for the second half of 2025, while its successor, the Rubin AI chip, is expected to launch in late 2026. Rubin Ultra will take the stage in 2027.

In a talk that lasted at over two hours, Huang outlined the “extraordinary progress" that AI has made. In 10 years, he said, AI graduated from perception and “computer vision” to generative AI, and now to agentic AI — or AI that has the ability to reason.

“AI understands the context, understands what we're asking. Understands the meaning of our request,” he said. “It now generates answers. Fundamentally changed how computing is done.”

The next wave of AI, he said, is already happening: robotics.

Robotics fueled by so-called “physical AI” can understand concepts like friction and inertia, cause and effect, and object permanence, he said.

“Each one of these phases, each one of these waves, opens up new market opportunities for all of us,” Huang said.

The key to that physical AI, and many of Huang’s other announcements, was the concept of using synthetic data generation — AI or computer-created data — for model training. AI needs digital experiences to learn from, he said, and it learns at speeds that make using humans in the training loops obsolete.

“There's only so much data and so much human demonstration we can perform,” he said. “This is the big breakthrough in the last couple of years: reinforcement learning."

Nvidia's tech, he said, can help with that type of learning for AI as it attacks or tries to engage in solving a problem, step by step.

To that end, Huang announced Isaac GR00T N1, an open-source foundation model designed to assist in developing humanoid robots. Isaac GR00T N1 would be paired with an updated Cosmos AI model to help develop simulated training data for robots.

Benjamin Lee, a professor of electrical and systems engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, said that the challenge in training robotics lies in data collection because training in the real world is time-consuming and expensive.

A simulated environment has long been a standard for reinforcement learning, Lee said, so researchers can test the effectiveness of their models.

“I think it’s really exciting. Providing a platform, and an open-source one, will allow more people to learn on reinforcement learning,” Lee said. “More researchers could start playing with this synthetic data — not just big players in the industry but also academic researchers.”

Huang introduced the Cosmos series of AI models, which can generate cost-efficient photo-realistic video that can then be used to train robots and other automated services, at CES earlier this year.

The open-source model, which works with the Nvidia’s Omniverse — a physics simulation tool — to create more realistic video, promises to be much cheaper than traditional forms of gathering training, such as having cars record road experiences or having people teach robots repetitive tasks.

U.S. car maker General Motors plans to integrate Nvidia technology in its new fleet of self-driving cars, Huang said. The two two companies will work together to build custom AI systems using both Omniverse and Cosmos to train AI manufacturing models.

The Nvidia head also unveiled the company’s Halos system, an AI solution built around automotive — especially autonomous driving — safety.

“We’re the first company in the world, I believe, to have every line of code safety assessed,” Huang said.

At the end of his talk, Huang an open-source physics engine for robotics simulation called Newton, which is being developed with Google DeepMind and Disney Research.

A small, boxy robot named Blue joined him on stage, popping up from a hatch in the floor. It beeped at Huang and followed his commands, standing beside him as he wrapped up his thoughts.

“The age of generalist robotics is here,” Huang said.

CEO Jensen Huang talks during the keynote address of Nvidia GTC Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

CEO Jensen Huang talks during the keynote address of Nvidia GTC Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

CEO Jensen Huang talks during the keynote address of Nvidia GTC Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

CEO Jensen Huang talks during the keynote address of Nvidia GTC Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

CEO Jensen Huang talks during the keynote address of Nvidia GTC Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

CEO Jensen Huang talks during the keynote address of Nvidia GTC Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivers a keynote during the Nvidia GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in San Jose, Calif., Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (Stephen Lam /San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang gives away swag to attendees on stage during the Nvidia GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in San Jose, Calif., Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (Stephen Lam /San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivers a keynote during the Nvidia GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in San Jose, Calif., Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (Stephen Lam /San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivers a keynote during the Nvidia GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in San Jose, Calif., Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (Stephen Lam /San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang speaks on stage during a keynote at the Nvidia GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in San Jose, Calif., Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (Stephen Lam /San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish police on Wednesday arrested Istanbul’s mayor — a popular opposition leader and key rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — and several other prominent figures as part of investigations into alleged corruption and terror links. It was a dramatic escalation in an ongoing crackdown on the opposition and dissenting voices in Turkey.

The state-run Anadolu Agency said prosecutors issued detention warrants for the mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, and some 100 other people. Among those detained was Imamoglu's close aide, Murat Ongun.

Authorities also closed several roads around Istanbul and banned demonstrations in the city for four days in an apparent effort to prevent protests following the arrest. Private NTV television said two Istanbul district mayors were among those detained.

Critics say the crackdown follows significant losses by Erdogan’s ruling party in local elections last year amid growing calls for early national elections. Government officials insist that the courts operate independently and reject claims that legal actions against opposition figures are politically motivated.

“We are facing great tyranny, but I want you to know that I will not be discouraged,” Imamoglu said earlier in the day in a video post on social media.

Erdogan, a populist with increasingly authoritarian tendencies, has led Turkey as prime minister or president for more than 20 years and is now the longest-serving leader in the Turkish republic’s history. His current term runs until 2028 but he has indicated he'd like to serve longer — something he could achieve with the help of a friendly parliament.

Imamoglu was arrested as police searched his home, but it wasn't immediately clear if anything was confiscated. His wife, Dilek Imamoglu, told the private Now television that police arrived at their residence before dawn and that the mayor was taken around 7:30 a.m.

The Istanbul Stock Exchange’s main index dropped by 7% over news of his arrest, triggering a temporary halt to trading to prevent panic selling and stabilize the market. The Turkish lira lost some 7% of its value against the dollar.

Anadolu, the news agency, said that Ekrem Imamoglu and several others are suspected of extortion, money laundering and irregularities concerning tenders and procurements, among other crimes.

Imamoglu is also suspected of aiding the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, by allegedly forming an alliance with a Kurdish umbrella organization for the Istanbul municipal elections, the report said. The PKK has waged a decadeslong insurgency within Turkey and is designated a terrorist organization by Ankara, Washington and other allies.

A day earlier, Istanbul University invalidated Imamoglu's diploma, effectively disqualifying him from running in the next presidential race — a university degree is a requisite for running in elections under Turkish law.

The mayor’s party — the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP — was to hold a primary on Sunday where Imamoglu was expected to be chosen for its candidate in future presidential elections.

With all the arrests Wednesday, that vote was in doubt but party chairman Ozgur Ozel told the opposition-aligned Halik TV channel that it would go ahead as planned. Ozel said Imamoglu’s detention was “an attempted coup against our next president.”

In a social media post in English, Imamoglu said: “The will of the people cannot be silenced through intimidation or unlawful acts. I stand resolute, entrusting myself not only to the 16 million residents of Istanbul but to the 86 million citizens" of Turkey.

Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party condemned the detentions and called for the immediate release of all taken into custody.

The dawn raid on Imamoglu's home and his arrest was a "disgrace that will not be forgotten for centuries. This operation, which shatters faith in justice, is an attempt to redesign politics through the judiciary,” Tulay Hatimogullari, the party’s co-chairwoman, wrote on X.

As he was being arrested, Ongun, the mayor's aide, appealed for support on X, though he at the time did not appear to know that the mayor was also being taken into custody.

“They think they can silence us and prevent us from defending and supporting Ekrem Imamoglu,” Ongun said. “I entrust Ekrem Imamoglu to the Turkish nation. Protect, watch over and support him. They cannot be defeat the nation.”

Separately, police also detained a prominent investigative journalist, Ismail Saymaz, for questioning, the opposition-aligned Halk TV reported.

Meanwhile, internet-access advocacy group netblocks.org reported Wednesday that access has been restricted in Turkey to popular social media platforms.

In nullifying Imamoglu’s diploma, the university cited alleged irregularities in his 1990 transfer from a private university in northern Cyprus to its Faculty of Business Administration. Imamoglu said he would challenge the decision.

Imamoglu faces multiple lawsuits, including allegations of trying to influence a judicial expert investigating opposition-led municipalities. The cases could result in prison sentences and a political ban.

He is also appealing a 2022 conviction of insulting members of Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Council, a case that could result in a political ban.

Imamoglu was elected mayor of Turkey’s largest city in March 2019 in a historic blow to Erdogan and the president’s Justice and Development Party, which had controlled Istanbul for a quarter-century. The party pushed to void the municipal election results in the city of 16 million, alleging irregularities.

The challenge resulted in a repeat of the election a few months later, which Imamoglu also won. The mayor retained his seat following local elections last year, during which his party made significant gains against Erdogan’s governing party.

Devlet Bahceli, an Erdogan ally from the Nationalist Movement Party, slammed the opposition on X, saying Wednesday that to “oppose the judiciary and law, even to debate it, is an invitation to discord and violence” and adding it was “important to accept whatever decision was made by the courts.”

Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Associated Press writers Lorian Belanger in Bangkok and Cinar Kiper in Bodrum, Turkey, contributed to this report.

FILE.- Istanbul Mayor and Republican People's Party, or CHP, candidate Ekrem Imamoglu take photographs with supporters during a campaign rally in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, March 21, 2024.(AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)

FILE - Istanbul's Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu addresses his supporters in front of the Istanbul courthouse, in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, file)