The Daily Chase: Nvidia's GTC conference kicks off

Here are five things you need to know this morning.

Nvidia’s AI conference kicks off: The eyes of the investing world will be firmly squared on Nvidia on Monday, as the semiconductor giant hosts its three-day GTC conference. More than 300,000 people are expected to attend either virtually or in-person as the microchip-maker updates suppliers, customers and investors on what is has up its sleeve. Strategists at Bank of America have called the conference “the AI Woodstock” and if that analogy proves apposite, the “Jimi Hendrix playing The Star Spangled Banner” moment is likely to be when CEO and founder Jensen Huang will unveil the new B100 chip. It’s the latest generator of the company’s artificial intelligence accelerators and rumour has it the B100 will have almost twice the computational capacity of its current powerhouse H100 chip, which is the chip that has made the current generation of impressive large-language models like ChatGPT possible. Against the backdrop of the impressive run in Nvidia’s stock price this year, the company could be hard-pressed to keep the peace and love party with their investors going. Market reception to the B100 will be key to not harshing that buzz.

Apple and Google close to AI deal: Elsewhere in the AI world, there’s a groundbreaking deal afoot between Apple and Google – one that would potentially see the smartphone maker build Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence engine into the iPhone. While Apple has had discussions about possibly using ChatGPT or its own in-house AI technology, Bloomberg reports that the company is leaning toward partnering with Google instead. That could be a sign of where Apple views its own AI technology, but regardless, it’s a fascinating display of partnership between two technology giants who compete fiercely yet find ways to work together for mutual benefit — even if they don’t always see eye to eye.

Takeover deal at Nuvei?: Shares in Montreal-based payment processor Nuvei are one to watch on Monday morning after reports over the weekend suggest the company is in talks with private-equity firm Advent International about a buyout and that a deal could be announced soon. The company isn’t saying much yet but did confirm it is “engaged in discussions with certain third parties” about a transaction, and suggested that company founder and CEO Phil Fayer would potentially maintain a “significant ownership.” Shares in the TSX-listed company jumped 16 per cent in premarket trading on Monday. Prior to the weekend reports, the company had lost more than 40 per cent of its value in the past year, and the stock is down by about 80 per cent since hitting an all-time high in late 2021.