"The entire stack is being changed" - Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang looks ahead to the next generation of AI

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has declared a new age of AI in 2026 as the demands from across the world continue to grow.

Speaking on stage at CES 2026 in his opening keynote, Huang hailed the work done by his company in recent years, but hinted things are only set to grow even more going forward.

All change

"Every 10 to 15 years, the computer industry resets - a new shift happens," Huang declared, "and each time, the world of applications target a new platform."

"Except this time, there are two simultaneous platform shifts happening at the same time," he added - namely AIs and applications built on AI tools, but also how software is being run and developed now on GPUs rather than CPUs.

"The entire stack is being changed," he added, “computing has been fundamentally reshaped as a result of accelerated computing, as a result of artificial intelligence....every single layer of that five-layer cake (of AI) is being reinvented."

Sporting an all-new leather jacket and struggling with some tech gremlins, Huang noted how billions of dollars are being invested in AI and research, and how the "modernization of AI to AI" will be vital to making the next big breakthroughs.

He hailed the "incredible year" of 2025, "where it seemed like everything was happening - and to be honest, it probably was" and the AI industry took huge steps forward.

He particularly praised Nvidia's work in open models, via its DGX platform, which has helped crack problems in healthcare and cellular research, as well as its Earth-2 model to improve weather predictions, and in its new Alpamayo model for autonomous vehicles.

Huang also revealed that Nvidia's next-generation Vera Rubin chips are now in full development, helping pave the way for the next step in AI.

Containing over 17,000 components, the chips bring together a Vera CPU and two Rubin GPU to provide a massive step forward in power and performance, and the building blocks for the hyper-scaled racks required for Nvidia's AI Factories.

"Complete unknowns"

Huang also spent some time discussing "physical AI" - a system which is able to really understand the actual world around us.

The "complete unknowns...of the common sense of the physical world" pose a unique challenge, but one Nvidia is looking to address with models such as Cosmos, Gr00T and Alpamayo, which take in synthetic data to learn more about the world around them.

Concluding on Nvidia's aim to build "one central platform for AI," Huang outlined how, "our job is to create the entire stack, so all of you can create incredible applications for the rest of the world."

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