NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) may launch the next generation of its Pascal GPUs as early as next year.
The company revealed its Pascal-based GTX Titan X graphics card just a week ago. Rumors are already flying around claiming that the new card is almost ready to hit the market and might be available as early as 2017. Some rumors claim that the company will launch the new GPU architecture also known as Volta at the Graphics Technology Conference that will be held in May. If Nvidia actually launches the card at the events rumored, then it will be earlier than previously predicted. This is because the launch roadmap over the past few years suggests that the company would most likely launch the new card in 2018.
More rumors claim that the card will not be a 10nm GPU as expected but the GPU maker will adopt the 16nm FinFET process on which the Pascal line is based. The firm is yet to produce a gaming GPU that optimizes the 16nm node. There is thus an opportunity for Nvidia to create bigger chips that can push performance to higher levels. Since the architecture has not yet been switched to 10nm finFET, it will be easier for the firm to feature an early launch of the product.
It is also a good idea for the company to follow that course of action due to past successes with previous cards. Launching the next generation on an already mature platform may yield more more for the firm as long as performance is improved. There are also a few reasons why the company would push for an early launch of the Volta GPUs. One of the most significant reasons is that rival company Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) is also planning to launch its top of the line Vega GPU just around the same time as the Volta GPUs. If the new GPUs come early as predicted, then there is a chance that the company will also feature an early launch for the GV104-based GTX 1180.
