Good question. Physical AI will probably pay off in ways that are measurable faster than chatbots will.
From Nikkei Asia, January 9:
Nvidia, AMD and other chipmakers target new revenue streams amid AI bubble concerns
LAS VEGAS -- If 2025 was all about AI agents -- digital helpers designed to make everyone feel like they have their very own personal assistant -- the buzzword for 2026 is physical AI.
An encompassing term, physical AI refers to many different applications of artificial intelligence, ranging from autonomous vehicles and factory automation to humanoids that do all the chores at home.
At a keynote speech on the sidelines of the CES trade show in Las Vegas this week, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the "ChatGPT moment" for physical AI is here. The chip giant announced a series of models and training platforms to simulate the real-world environment to help partners such as industrial giant Siemens, Japanese conglomerate Hitachi and automakers like BYD and Xiaomi bring artificial intelligence to cars, factories and everyday life.
Nvidia is not alone in promoting the physical AI concept. AMD CEO Lisa Su highlighted the company's effort in bringing artificial intelligence to the real world by unveiling several partnerships with robotics companies at CES.
Smaller chipmakers such as Taiwan's Kneron, which specializes in developing neural processing units (NPUs), processors that can accelerate AI computing with low power, also sees a growing market in physical AI.
"We'll see the commercialization of AI technologies in 2026, a lot of it is in physical AI," said Kneron CEO Albert Liu. "And NPU has its natural advantage in physical AI due to its lower cost and energy consumption."
Liu said his company has been receiving a lot more inquiries and orders fueled by demand for autonomous driving, smart cities and other physical AI applications.
Even those down the semiconductor supply chain are doubling down on their physical AI bets.
Synopsys, the world's leading maker of chip design tools, in 2025 acquired Ansys, a company specializing in simulating physical world environments, as part of efforts to apply its design tool capabilities beyond semiconductors.
At CES, the chip equipment maker set up a booth in the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, a location known as the automotive wing of the consumer electronics show. The display showed how Synopsys can help automakers reduce costs and production time by bringing AI tools, such as physical-world simulations, into their design flow.
Shankar Krishnamoorthy, chief product development officer at Synopsys, said that with "all the electronics and all the chips and all the training that were needed to enable" robotaxis, factory-floor robots and other physical AI applications, many new growth opportunities are opening up for the company.
As the tech industry and Wall Street come to question the AI boom's intense focus on semiconductors, not to mention the billions of dollars being poured into data centers and other infrastructure, many are wondering whether physical AI is just another buzzword to help chipmakers to sell more chips and whether the returns will match the spending.
In a recent Hitachi survey of global executives, almost 70% said they are moving forward with physical AI pilot projects, but only 30% said they are seeing measurable results today....
....MUCH MORE
