The technology company Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) has joined forces with General Electric (NYSE: GE) to unite artificial intelligence with healthcare. In a press release earlier this month, both companies revealed their plan to implement Nvidia processors in GE Healthcare's 500,000 imaging devices. Given that the new processors will run on artificial intelligence, a rising form of technology that simulates human intelligence in machines, imaging will both be faster and more accurate for patients. Two times faster than the previous imaging processor, the Nvidia chips will likely shorten the examination time for patients, lower radiation doses, and produce high-quality images.
In a joint statement, both Nvidia and GE expressed their support of the new deal. GE Healthcare President and CEO Kieran Murphy reasoned that through their partnership with Nvidia "[they] will be able to deliver devices of the future - intelligent machines capable of empowering providers to improve the speed and accuracy of diagnoses for patients around the world." Similarly, Nvidia CEO and Founder Jensen Huang stated that their "partnership with GE Healthcare brings together great expertise in medical instruments and AI to create a new generation of intelligent instruments that can dramatically improve patient care."
GE Healthcare, a well-known subsidiary of General Electric, has a long history of innovating imaging devices, beginning with x-rays for cancer research. By 1960, the subsidiary began to focus on medical electronics, allowing the company to the better detect breast cancer with the release of their digital mammogram in 2000. Since then, the company has continued to extend its efforts to make diagnostic imaging more efficient for physicians and the treatment of their patients.
Nvidia's new deal with GE is a significant step forward for the tech company. Historically, Nvidia's primary interest was graphics-based computing. As such, the 24-year old company has focused on video game development, as video games rely heavily on graphics hardware and have high sales potential. In 2015, Nvidia found themselves in the world of deep learning, a crucial part of AI development, with the release of their Tegra X1 chip and the Nvidia Drive series. The Tegra X1 added processing power to deep learning, while Nvidia Drive introduced a new computer platform for autonomous driving. The use of Nvidia processors in healthcare items will now allow the company to take a new approach to their brand, increasing the diversity of their revenue from the financially booming markets of both gaming and healthcare.
Such success has left Nvidia competitor Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) with a slightly smaller chance at dominating machine intelligence in the future. The Nvidia Tesla GPU, a line of artificial intelligence computing chips, has brought Nvidia success over the course of the year. While Nvidia's data center revenue has risen by 108% to $501 million, Intel has only risen 7.4% to $4.88. Although Intel controls a significant portion of the computing world through their processors, they are also battling for space in the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence. And while Intel has brought in a larger revenue, the percent growth of Nvidia suggests that Intel could be facing serious competition.