New Jersey has reached an agreement with technology innovator Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company, to advance generative AI.
“We will advance AI education, workforce development, research, and innovation at scale to ensure New Jersey’s students, innovators, and workers are prepared to shape the future of AI and avoid being overrun by it,” Phil Murphy said Friday in his last scheduled press conference as governor.
The agreement will allow research universities such as Rutgers University and New Jersey Institute of Technology to build supercomputers at those schools. Generative AI (artificial intelligence) is driving breakthrough advances in medical, aerospace, environmental, and other research.
Founded in 1993, Santa Clara, California-based Nvidia was the first company to be valued at $5 trillion. Manufacture specialized computer chips and design cloud storage.
Murphy thanked lawmakers who approved $25 million in funding for a “statewide supercomputer initiative” for universities during the last legislative session this week.
Restoring New Jersey as a global home for innovation has been a key priority during Murphy’s two terms in office. Nvidia’s deal follows related recent efforts, including the creation of a permanent New Jersey Innovation Authority to oversee digital and AI projects.
Asked about his accomplishments in a December interview with New Jersey Spotlight News, Murphy highlighted the creation of 12 strategic innovation centers focused on areas such as artificial intelligence, fintech, life sciences, aerospace and biotechnology. The centers have extracted nearly $500 million in private sector investment from the state’s $190 million investment, according to the governor’s office.
“These strategic innovation centers are going to be a huge driver of the startup economy,” said Murphy, who retired as a senior director at Goldman Sachs Group. “We’re already starting to see evidence of that. We’ve gone from kind of in the middle of the pack to being one of the top three venture capital states in the nation, behind California and New York.”
We are in this together.
For a better informed future.
Please support our nonprofit newsroom.
