Nvidia's Blackwell GPUs for server systems are reportedly being delayed, which could mean that Microsoft, Meta, and others will have to wait a while longer before they can enjoy their new AI hardware.

Another day, another delay. Another delay. This time, it appears that Nvidia's Blackwell AI graphics cards may have been the victim of last-minute delay-itus. Reports now suggest that they will be launching instead in the first half 2025.

Although engineering samples of the B100 and B200 graphics cards have been delivered, it appears that enterprise customers such as Microsoft, Meta, and xAI may have to wait until their orders arrive. Tom's Hardware reported that two anonymous sources, who worked on the chip, first announced the pushback. This was later confirmed by Bloomberg, citing an anonymous Microsoft source.

Nvidia had previously been thought to be aiming for a release by the end of 2024. Nvidia's mega-GPUs are in high demand, with multiple high-profile clients placing large orders. The price per "superchip" is estimated at $70,000. Significant delays will not be well received.

Dylan Patel, Chief analyst at independent research company SemiAnalysis has tweeted a story that is quite different.

According to a SemiAnalysis update sent to clients on July 22, ramping issues with CoWoS (Chip on Wafer on Substrate), are the primary cause. TSMC's AP3 Packaging Fab needed to be shut down in order to convert from CoWoS S production to CoWoS L.

This process will not be completed until the second half of next year. The tweet mentions rumours of overheating and software issues, but characterises these as "overblown". SemiAnalysis believes that while the update mentions "teasing problems" to be fixed, they are not the main cause of delays.

Any significant delay could undermine confidence in Nvidia’s ability to deliver its expensive AI-processing GPUs in mass and on time.

Nvidia is unlikely to be concerned that any delay will lead to lost customers. AMD's Instinct MI300 AI GPU is a competitor. However, AMD CEO Lisa Su recently stated that AMD is currently selling all of its AI GPUs and that the "overall supply chain will remain tight until 2025."

Nvidia dominates the AI GPU market and its Blackwell series AI GPUs are reported to have excellent performance. It's unlikely that any major customer would switch hardware providers if there was a delay, especially if top candidates were in short supply.

TSMC is once again the leader in chip manufacturing. If it needs to reconfigure its production to keep up with the demand, then the other top tech companies of the world may have to wait and stand in line. Or maybe there are real design issues with Nvidia’s latest AI hardware.

It doesn't appear to be a printing error, though, eh?