Nvidia Unveils Vera CPU, Aiming to Dominate AI Data Centers

WHO:

CNBC - Jensen Huang, chief executive officer of Nvidia Corp.

CNBC - Clients receiving Vera chips include OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX.

WHAT:

Techmeme - Nvidia unveiled its Vera CPU, featuring 88 cores and 176 threads.

Techmeme - The Vera CPU is set for general release in H2 2026.

CNBC - Nvidia is shipping its own central processing units (CPUs) to cloud providers.

CNBC - AMD and Intel are the two established competitors in the CPU market.

CNBC - Nvidia's stock has risen by 8% in 2026, while AMD and Intel stocks have increased by 128% and 149%, respectively.

WHERE:

CNBC - The Nvidia GTC conference took place in San Jose, California.

WHEN:

CNBC - Vera chips were delivered to clients in June.

WHY:

CNBC - Nvidia aims to vertically integrate its systems and produce more of the chips and technology inside them.

CNBC - The rise of agentic AI has returned attention to the CPU, which is needed to manage and feed data to AI agents.

HOW:

CNBC - Nvidia's strategy involves selling entire systems as full racks of computing power rather than just individual chips.

(UPDATED July 21, 2026 16:25 UTC)

Nvidia has unveiled its new Vera CPU, which boasts an impressive 88 cores and 176 threads, and is set for general release in the second half of 2026. The company is already shipping these CPUs to cloud providers, with clients including OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX, as part of its strategy to vertically integrate its systems. Meanwhile, Nvidia's stock has risen by 8% this year, while competitors AMD and Intel have seen even larger increases of 128% and 149%, respectively.