NVIDIA acquires mapping company DeepMap

Nvidia and DeepMap

NVIDIA shares reacted by rising to the purchase of privately held DeepMap, which makes high-definition mapping software that will help improve Nvidia's in-car chips with machine learning technology.

Nvidia (NVDA) last week announced a deal to acquire California-based DeepMap, which will be an important component of its efforts to build fully autonomous vehicle technology.

Shares in Nvidia, up 102.65% over the past 12 months, rose 2.3% on Friday on the back of the news, continuing to rise on Monday to a new high in the past 52 weeks.

Market experts describe Nvidia as one of the most advanced companies in developing in-car processors and artificial intelligence and machine learning software products that make cars self-driving.

NVIDIA's comprehensive DRIVE platform is used by some of the world's largest automakers.

DeepMap was created in 2016 by former top executives from Google (GOOG, GOOGL), Apple (APPL), Baidu (BIDU) and other companies.

DeepMap is the creator of mapping software that, using crowdsourced data from vehicle sensors, creates a high-definition map that is constantly updated as the vehicle moves.

Such highly detailed maps can be scaled up for fleets of unmanned vehicles and work around the world. In its press release, NVIDIA emphasised that high-definition maps are essential for self-driving cars.

To date, Nvidia's share of revenues from automotive chip sales has been relatively small, but the company expects more significant growth over the next 6 years.

Nvidia's automotive chip and software sales rose to $154 million in its most recent reported quarter, which ended May 2 this year, and for the full fiscal year 2021, which ended January 31, 2020, sales growth was 23%, despite the downturn in the industry.

However, Nvidia's chief financial officer Colette Kress said that the company's automotive segment revenue will exceed $8 billion by fiscal 2027.

Nvidia recently unveiled the next generation of its autonomous driving chip called Atlan, which is designed for 2025 car models. Nvidia shares have risen 36.5% this year, outperforming the PHLX Semiconductor Index (SOX) by 14.8%. The benchmark S&P 500 index is up almost 13% in 2021.