NVIDIA is developing the R100 and GR100 for data centers

Last month, NVIDIA revealed in an investor briefing a comprehensive update encompassing several advancements including HBM3e, the PCI Express standard (6.0/7.0), and enhancements in multi-GPU interconnect technologies. Additionally, they unveiled a product roadmap showcasing their strategic plan for data centers from 2024 to 2025. Presently, designs based on the Hopper architecture are slated to be superseded by products utilizing the Blackwell architecture between 2024 and 2025, followed a year later by the GX200. However, the significance of the “X” in these products remains a mystery, as it is unclear which scientist it commemorates.

Recently, internet users have disclosed that NVIDIA is developing the R100 and GR100 for data centers. The “R” in these models is a tribute to Vera Rubin (July 23, 1928 – December 25, 2016), a pioneering astronomer renowned for her groundbreaking work in confirming the existence of dark matter and her research into the rotational speeds of galaxies.

Vera Rubin was an esteemed American astronomer, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She graduated with a degree in Astronomy from Vassar College, pursued her graduate studies at Cornell University, and subsequently obtained her doctorate from Georgetown University. Following a few years of teaching at Georgetown, Rubin joined the Carnegie Institution for Science, becoming the first female researcher in its Department of Terrestrial Magnetism. In 1981, she was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences, earning the distinction of being its second female member in history.

It remains uncertain whether the Rubin architecture will be exclusively utilized in data center products or extend to gaming graphics cards. Some speculate that the “X” in NVIDIA’s data center product roadmap, specifically in products like the GX200, might actually represent “R”, with its official confirmation still pending, hence the placeholder “X”.