Nvidia (NVDA) Kyber, Launch Schedule Delayed to 2028...Is it losing ground to AMD?

▲ NVIDIA

NVIDIA's (NVDA) next-generation core product, the Kyber rack architecture, has been delayed by over 12 months, pushing its launch to 2028. Manufacturing difficulties combined with the cancellation of a backup design have put NVIDIA's annual new product launch strategy to the test.

According to the economic news outlet CNBC on July 6 (local time), semiconductor research firm SemiAnalysis stated that the launch of the Kyber rack architecture, which will feature the Rubin Ultra chip in 2027, has been postponed to 2028. Kyber is a system designed to house 144 of NVIDIA's high-performance chips in a single server cabinet, making it operate like a massive computer. It adopts a structure that places graphics processing units vertically instead of horizontally to increase density and reduce latency.

The stumbling block is the core circuit board at the heart of the system. SemiAnalysis stated, "The manufacturing difficulty of the PCB midplane remains high, leading to the Kyber NVL144 rack architecture being delayed to 2028." There is also a possibility that the large NVL576 system, which links 8 racks with optical connections, could see its launch delayed or be supplied in limited quantities. NVIDIA did not respond to CNBC's request for comment.

An alternative design also fell through. NVIDIA had developed a plan to combine two current-generation racks to achieve similar performance, but canceled the plan after strong opposition from cloud service providers and hyperscalers. SemiAnalysis explained, "It was canceled due to strong backlash surrounding the unusual design and excessive operational burden."

SemiAnalysis assessed that NVIDIA "has not secured a proven solution to scale up Rubin Ultra." They also analyzed that a rare technological gap could open in the high-performance market, especially with AMD (Advanced Micro Devices, AMD) and Google (Google) securing business from major AI research labs with their own chips. The Kyber delay is fueling concerns that NVIDIA's rapid annual product release cycle is clashing with manufacturing limitations.

The current-generation Rubin system has already entered full production and will be shipped to eight cloud partners, including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, starting this autumn. SemiAnalysis expects NVIDIA's data center computing revenue for the second half of fiscal year 2027 to exceed Wall Street's projections by 20%. NVIDIA's stock fluctuated in pre-market trading before falling less than 0.1% to $194.79.

[Article Summary]

-NVIDIA's Kyber NVL144 rack architecture launch has been delayed by over 12 months, pushing it to 2028.

-Manufacturing difficulties with the core PCB midplane and the cancellation of an alternative rack design have emerged as burdens on the Rubin Ultra expansion strategy.

-The current-generation Rubin system will be shipped to eight cloud partners this autumn, and SemiAnalysis expects data center computing revenue for the second half of fiscal year 2027 to exceed Wall Street's projections by 20%.

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