Greenpeace Activists Disrupt Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s Berlin Keynote Over Climate and Russian Drone Chips
Protesters interrupted Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang's keynote at the company's GTC conference in Berlin on Wednesday, questioning the company's climate record and reports that its chips have turned up in Russian drones used in Ukraine. Huang asked security to treat the demonstrators gently, then continued with his address on Nvidia's plans for Europe.
Protesters identified as Greenpeace activists disrupted Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang’s keynote address at the company’s GTC conference in Berlin on Wednesday, confronting him over the environmental cost of AI hardware and reports that Nvidia chips have been found in Russian drones used in Ukraine.
Huang was about a quarter of the way through his presentation, describing the company’s Vera Rubin computing platform, when the activists interrupted, shouting, “What are you doing about the environmental destruction?” according to DataCenterDynamics. Security staff quickly escorted them from the hall and confiscated a banner that read, “Nvidia, clean up your dirty business.”
Huang told security to “go easy” on the demonstrators. “Give her a chance. Everybody has a chance to say something,” he said. As they were led out, he said he would “talk to you guys later,” calling their concerns “all important issues, but let me get through my keynote.”
Reports of chips in Russian drones
The protesters also raised claims that Nvidia hardware is reaching the Russian military. According to the report, Ukrainian forces have recovered Nvidia Jetson Orin embedded modules from downed Russian drones, hardware Russia should not be able to obtain under sanctions imposed after its invasion of Ukraine.
Keynote presses Europe on AI
The interruption came as Huang used the Berlin keynote to press Europe to adopt artificial intelligence faster, striking a bullish note even as some investors grow doubtful about the sums being spent on AI infrastructure, Bloomberg reported.
He said Nvidia has invested nearly $10 billion in Europe over the past year and announced stakes in 14 startups during a tour last week through France, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Germany, according to FXStreet’s coverage of the event. The company also used the keynote to unveil new data center equipment, software, models and partnerships with European companies, Bloomberg reported.
Huang described AI as a five-layer manufacturing stack of energy, chips, AI factories, models and applications, naming Schneider, Siemens and Siemens Energy among the European companies set to benefit at the lower layers, FXStreet reported.
Reporting based on coverage by DataCenterDynamics, Bloomberg and FXStreet.
