Nvidia's new 'robot brain' goes on sale for $3,499 as company targets robotics for growth

Nvidia has officially launched its latest robotics chip module, the Jetson AGX Thor, priced at $3,499 for developers. Dubbed a 'robot brain,' this new technology is designed to empower companies to develop sophisticated robots. According to Nvidia, the first developer kits will begin shipping next month. Once businesses utilize the developer kit for initial prototypes, they can purchase the Thor T5000 modules for integration into their production-ready robots. For orders exceeding 1,000 units, Nvidia sets the price at $2,999 per module. Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, has identified robotics as a significant growth area beyond artificial intelligence, which has played a pivotal role in tripling the company's sales over the last two years. Deepu Talla, Nvidia's vice president of robotics and edge AI, emphasized the company's role as an enabler of the robotics industry rather than a manufacturer of robots or vehicles. The Jetson Thor chips leverage Nvidia's cutting-edge Blackwell graphics processor technology, which is also utilized in their AI and gaming chips. Remarkably, these new chips boast a performance increase of 7.5 times compared to their predecessors, allowing them to handle generative AI models and visual interpretations vital for humanoid robots. Equipped with 128GB of memory, the Jetson Thor chips are tailored for large AI applications. Major companies, including Agility Robotics, Amazon, Meta, and Boston Dynamics, are already leveraging Nvidia's Jetson chips in their projects. Despite the rapid development of its robotics sector, Nvidia's revenue from this area remains modest at around 1% of total earnings, although it has seen significant growth since launching its first robot chips in 2014. In a strategic move, Nvidia has merged its automotive and robotics divisions, reflecting the potential of this market. The combined unit reported impressive quarterly sales of $567 million in May, marking a 72% year-over-year increase. Furthermore, Nvidia's Jetson Thor chips are also suitable for self-driving vehicles, particularly those from Chinese manufacturers. While they share similarities with the automotive chips known as Drive AGX, the latter operates on the specialized Drive OS tailored for automotive applications.