The annual GPU Technology Conference (GTC), hosted by NVIDIA, will take place from March 17–21 in San Jose, California. This conference serves as a global hub for artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing (HPC), and enterprise innovation platforms. Over twenty Taiwanese tech giants are sponsoring or exhibiting at the event, highlighting Taiwan’s pivotal role within NVIDIA's supply chain.

This year’s sponsors include Foxconn, Quanta Cloud Technology (a subsidiary of Quanta Computer), ASUS, and Delta Electronics as diamond-level sponsors; Gigabyte and MSI as platinum-level sponsors. Golden-level sponsorships are held by Inventec, Largan Precision, and Pegatron, while Compal, MediaTek, Mitac International (MiTAC), and Trend Micro comprise the silver-level sponsors.

Notably, Largan Precision and Compal will participate in GTC for the first time this year. TSMC, a close NVIDIA partner providing wafer fabrication services, is listed under special sponsorship categories.

Exhibitors include Advantech, AAEON, Qisda, Kinsus Interconnect Technology, Guang Yun Industrial Co., New Hans Technologies Inc., Wistron Corporation, and Wiwynn, showcasing areas such as robotics, motherboards, enclosures, and AI servers.

Foxconn, a key partner in NVIDIA’s GB200 server project, has become a diamond-level sponsor this year with an expanded exhibition scale compared to 2024. The company will showcase topics including Frontier AI, smart manufacturing, digital twins, GB200 servers, and nursing robots.

Compal is also participating for the first time in GTC. Having begun shipping servers equipped with NVIDIA’s GH200 Grace Hopper chips this year, it plans to highlight new technologies related to AI-HPC GPU server systems during GTC 2024. Advantech will present its latest edge computing AI solutions, including generative AI edge systems, service-guiding robots, and medical AI devices.

Industry experts note that the rapid development of artificial intelligence applications in recent years has drawn global technology leaders to GTC for discussions on cutting-edge technologies. As NVIDIA leads this wave of AI innovation, today’s GTC can be considered a global summit for AI technology, attracting significant attention worldwide.

A senior sponsorship executive stated that becoming a sponsor at GTC involves more than financial contributions; it requires rigorous vetting by NVIDIA and indirectly reflects the alignment between companies and NVIDIA's vision. Huang Rung-cheng (NVIDIA’s CEO), born in Taiwan and maintaining close relationships with Taiwanese firms since his early entrepreneurial days, has repeatedly praised Taiwan for its critical role within their supply chain.

Key figures from major tech corporations—including Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. chairman Liu Yang-wei; ASUS Chairman Jonney Shih; Delta Electronics Inc.’s chairman Weng Ping; and Quanta Cloud Technology CEO Jacky Young—are expected to attend this year’s conference.

The first GPU Tech Conference (GTC) was held in 2009, initially focusing on the role of graphics processing units (GPUs) in gaming and high-performance computing. It attracted tech developers and enthusiasts when NVIDIA primarily focused on display cards; content at that time centered around rendering capabilities and related technologies.

As AI and deep learning gained traction during the mid to late 2010s, NVIDIA positioned GPUs as core tools for AI computation, transforming GTC into an annual gathering point for global AI developers. In recent years, the conference theme has expanded to include supercomputing, data science, autonomous vehicles, robotics, among other areas; this year’s event will also introduce a ‘Quantum Day’ session exploring current and future states of quantum computing.

(Author: Wu Jia-Hao, Tseng Jen-Kai, Chung Jung-Fong)