For the past few years, whenever Jensen Huang, boss of Nvidia, has taken the stage, he has followed a familiar script, unveiling ever more powerful semiconductors, software and systems for running artificial intelligence in data centres. No wonder: the AI boom has sparked a spending spree on giant server farms, and much of that money has flowed straight to the giant chipmaker. In the past four years, annual revenue at Nvidia's data-centre division has grown from $11bn to $194bn, pushing the firm's market value past $5trn, more than any other company ever.

过去几年，每当英伟达掌门人黄仁勋登台时，他都会遵循一套熟悉的套路：发布用于在数据中心运行人工智能的更强大的半导体、软件和系统。 这并不奇怪：人工智能热潮引发了针对大型服务器群的消费热潮，而其中大部分资金直接流入了这家芯片巨头。 过去四年里，英伟达数据中心部门的年收入从110亿美元增长到1940亿美元，推动公司市值突破5万亿美元，超过了历史上任何其他公司。

But on June 1st at Computex, an annual tech-industry jamboree in Taiwan, Mr Huang did more than refresh Nvidia's data-centre wares. He unveiled RTX Spark, a chip to be launched later this year for personal computers (PCs), built in collaboration with Microsoft, whose software they will run. Nvidia is taking on Intel and AMD, the chipmakers that dominate the segment—and is betting that the next phase of AI will play out not just in data centres, but on devices at the edge.

但在6月1日于中国台湾省举行的年度科技盛会“台北国际电脑展”上，黄仁勋所做的不仅仅是更新英伟达的数据中心产品。 他发布了RTX Spark，这是一款将于今年晚些时侯推出的个人电脑芯片，是与微软合作打造的，该芯片将运行微软的软件。 英伟达正在挑战英特尔和AMD——这两家主导该领域的芯片制造商——并且押注人工智能的下一阶段不仅将在数据中心上演，还将在边缘设备上展开。

In recent years PCs have been one of tech's backwaters. Evercore, an investment bank, estimates that in the past decade unit sales of chips for desktop computers have fallen by 4% a year, while those for laptops have been roughly flat. What is drawing fresh interest is the rise of "agentic" AI, software that can carry out complex tasks on its own. As it spreads, the number of tokens (the chunks of text processed by AI models) is expected to rise sharply. Model-makers and cloud providers are already straining to keep up. Offloading some work from the cloud to local devices could be cheaper and more efficient.

近年来，个人电脑一直是科技领域的落后领域。 投资银行Evercore估计，过去十年间，台式电脑芯片的销量每年下降4%，而笔记本电脑芯片的销量则基本持平。 吸引新兴趣的是“代理型人工智能”的兴起，这种软件能够自行执行复杂任务。 随着它的普及，token（人工智能模型处理的文本块）的数量预计将急剧上升。 模型制造商和云提供商已经在努力跟上。 将部分工作从云端卸载到本地设备可能更便宜、更高效。

Nvidia argues that this will require a different sort of machine. PCs rely on central processing units (CPUs), general-purpose chips that handle everything from word processing to web browsing. CPUs may co-ordinate the work of AI agents, but the models those agents rely on need another type of chip: graphics-processing units, or GPUs, the market for which Nvidia dominates. With RTX Spark, Nvidia is combining the two types into a "superchip". The upshot, according to Mr Huang, is that the PC is being reinvented for the first time in 40 years, replacing the old model, in which humans did most of the clicking and typing, with one in which AI agents do much of the work.

英伟达认为，这将需要不同类型的机器。 个人电脑依赖中央处理器（CPU），这种通用芯片处理从文字处理到网页浏览的所有任务。 CPU可以协调人工智能代理的工作，但这些代理所依赖的模型需要另一种类型的芯片：图形处理器（GPU），而英伟达主导着GPU市场。 通过RTX Spark，英伟达将这两种类型结合成一个“超级芯片”。 根据黄仁勋的说法，其结果是，个人电脑迎来了40年来的首次重塑，取代了人类进行大部分点击和打字的旧模式，转而采用让人工智能代理完成大部分工作的新模式。

Success is far from assured. Nvidia is not a stranger to PCs; before the AI boom, it made a big chunk of its money selling GPUs for gaming machines. But in CPUs for PCs, it is a newcomer. Intel and AMD together supply more than four-fifths of all CPUs sold for PCs. As for software, Nvidia says it has worked with Microsoft for over two and a half years on the new chip. Even so, some analysts remain sceptical that developers and users will quickly embrace a new class of AI-first PC.

成功远非板上钉钉。 英伟达对个人电脑并不陌生；在人工智能热潮之前，该公司很大一部分收入来自销售用于游戏机的GPU。 但在个人电脑CPU领域，它是一个新来者。 英特尔和AMD合计供应了个人电脑所用CPU的五分之四以上。 至于软件，英伟达表示已与微软就这款新芯片合作了两年半以上。 即便如此，一些分析师仍然怀疑开发者和用户是否会迅速接受这种新型的人工智能优先个人电脑。

Yet Nvidia has plenty of advantages. For a start, it has piles of money to invest; analysts expect the company to generate roughly $200bn in free cashflow this year. It also has the clout to draw in partners and a brand that may help catch the attention of consumers. A number of the biggest PC-makers, including HP, Lenovo and Acer, have already signed up to offer the new chip in their devices.

然而，英伟达拥有诸多优势。 首先，它有大量资金可供投资；分析师预计该公司今年将产生约2000亿美元的自由现金流。 它还有实力吸引合作伙伴，并且其品牌可能有助于引起消费者的关注。 包括惠普、联想和宏碁在内的多家大型个人电脑制造商已经签约，将在其设备中提供这款新芯片。

Nvidia's move is another sign of how fiercely contested the chip business has become, with firms venturing ever further from their original turf. In March Arm, a British designer that licenses chip blueprints to others, announced its own CPU for AI data centres; RTX Spark uses Arm's designs for its CPU. A day after Mr Huang spoke at Computex, Lip-Bu Tan, Intel's boss, presented his own plans. Among them was an AI chip due later this year, aimed at running models in data centres. Intel, Mr Tan said, was "going to do really well". Mr Huang is equally confident.

英伟达的这一举动是芯片行业竞争变得多么激烈的又一个迹象，各家公司正越来越多地涉足自身原有领域之外的领域。 3月，英国芯片设计公司安谋——该公司向其他公司授权芯片蓝图——宣布推出自己用于人工智能数据中心的CPU；RTX Spark在其CPU中使用了安谋的设计。 在黄仁勋于台北国际电脑展发表演讲后的第二天，英特尔首席执行官陈立武阐述了自己的计划。 其中就包括一款计划于今年晚些时候推出的AI芯片，旨在数据中心运行模型。 陈立武表示，英特尔“会表现得非常出色”。 黄仁勋同样充满信心。

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