Nvidia’s Huang Touts Cybersecurity as Next Big Market for AI

Cybersecurity is the next big market for artificial intelligence, with advances in the technology set to disrupt an industry geared to defending computer systems, said Nvidia Corp. co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang.

“Cybersecurity will likely be the next major use case of AI,” Huang told the audience Thursday at the Goldman Sachs Group Inc. technology conference in San Francisco.

Huang said the automation of computer programing by AI models is upsetting the cybersecurity industry because of the rate at which code can be exploited and needs to be fixed.

“What better way to create demand than to create a problem,” he said. “Who doesn’t want their market to be hysterical about their product and line up around the corner for it? And so there are responsible ways of doing it and there’s less attractive ways of doing it.”

Nvidia’s leader is addressing investors after delivering a blockbuster long-term forecast last month that bolstered beliefs on Wall Street that the massive spending on AI data centers will continue and his company will continue to gain from those investments. Like much of the computing industry, Nvidia is facing constant calls for reassurance that there are economic benefits being created by all those capital expenditures.

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At the same time, Nvidia’s incessant deal making continues to attract concern that it’s creating distortions in the market for the new technology. Last week, the company announced that it will acquire startup Hugging Face Inc. for roughly $13 billion, a transaction that will expand the chipmaker’s reach into other aspects of the AI business.

Huang dismissed fears that some of the deals might be circular in nature, touting his company’s ability to see the fundamental demand that his customers are trying to meet.

“It’s not circular because we put a little bit of money in and a lot of money comes back,” he said. “People are starting to recognize that wherever I invest, it’s not a bad place to invest because I’m an informed investor. I’m not taking any risks.”

Huang said he needs a “sure thing” before putting his company’s money to work. For a potential investment target to fall into that category Nvidia must see customers already lined up, he said.