Nvidia's Vera CPU Wins Adoption by AI Cloud Platform Modal
nashnova research
Cloud startup Modal will deploy Nvidia's new Vera CPU for AI-agent workloads, with early tests showing double the throughput — a sign that Nvidia is pushing beyond GPUs into the CPU market long held by Intel and AMD.
Why is Modal adding a new CPU vendor?
Modal previously ran AI-agent tasks entirely on Intel and AMD chips. This is its first time adopting an Nvidia CPU.
Early tests showed Vera doubled AI-agent throughput. This means → the gap was large enough to change a procurement decision, not a marginal gain.
CEO Erik Bernhardsson stressed Modal is not dropping existing suppliers. Vera will run alongside Intel and AMD chips — "always routing tasks to the best-performing hardware."
Is "double the throughput" the full picture?
Bernhardsson himself flagged a key caveat: the tests compared Vera against Intel and AMD's currently shipping models, not their latest unreleased chips.
Both Intel and AMD are developing new products that could narrow the gap, and Modal says it will "test them when they ship."
In plain terms = the "double" benchmark used today's competition, not tomorrow's. The conclusion holds for now, but has an expiration date.
How big is Modal itself?
Modal last week closed a $750 million round led by Accel at a $15.75 billion valuation.
The company expects revenue to top $1 billion over the next year. Usage has grown 3× year-over-year; revenue has grown more than 15×.
This reflects the explosive growth phase of AI-agent hosting — Modal's trajectory alone shows how fast demand for this workload category is expanding.
Where does Nvidia's CPU push stand?
Nvidia expects Vera chip sales of at least $20 billion this fiscal year and sizes the total CPU market at roughly $200 billion.
Disclosed Vera customers already include OpenAI, Anthropic, Oracle, and Perplexity. Modal is the latest addition.
This means → Nvidia is not just dominant in GPUs — it is now using Vera to press into a CPU market Intel and AMD have held for decades. Whether this reshapes the competitive landscape still depends on broader customer adoption and head-to-head results against next-generation rivals.
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