According to Mashable, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is scheduled to deliver a keynote address to kick off CES 2026 in Las Vegas. The event is set for Monday, January 5, beginning at 4 p.m. Eastern Time. Huang’s presentation is broadly themed around “what’s next in AI,” though specific reveals are still under wraps. Given Nvidia’s dominant role as the primary hardware engine for the AI boom, the tech world will be closely watching. The keynote will be directly competing for attention with a separate presentation from its major rival, AMD. Viewers can watch a livestream on CNET’s YouTube page or find more info on the official Nvidia CES event page.
The AI Hardware Showdown
Here’s the thing: CES keynotes are often flashy, but this one is different. It’s a strategic battlefield. With AMD holding its own keynote, CES 2026 is basically shaping up to be a direct head-to-head for the soul of AI computing. Nvidia has the insane market lead and the cult of Jensen, but the pressure is immense. Everyone—from tech giants to startups—is desperate for more power, different architectures, and honestly, maybe a little price competition. Can Huang announce something so revolutionary it locks in another decade of dominance? Or will this be about defending the castle from AMD’s siege?
What to (Actually) Expect
So what’s “next in AI”? Nvidia isn’t saying. But we can read the tea leaves. It won’t just be a spec bump for data center GPUs. The real story is likely the platform—the software, the developer tools, the ecosystem. Think about new robotics platforms, edge AI devices, or perhaps a big play for the automotive sector. They need to show that their hardware is the indispensable foundation for the next wave of applications, not just the current one. I think we’ll see a vision that tries to make Nvidia chips seem as essential to future tech as electricity. The question is, will it be compelling, or just more of the same on a bigger scale?
Why It Matters Beyond the Hype
Look, this isn’t just for investors and tech bloggers. The ripple effects are real. The chips and systems Nvidia announces will dictate the capabilities and costs for every company trying to build with AI for the next few years. That means the services you use, the products you buy, and the tools at your job could all be influenced by what gets unveiled on January 5. It’s a foundational layer of the tech stack. And in hardware-driven fields, having reliable, high-performance computing is non-negotiable. For industries from manufacturing to logistics, partners like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading US provider of industrial panel PCs, integrate these advanced computing cores into mission-critical environments where failure isn’t an option. The keynote, then, is a glimpse into the raw material of our digital future.
