Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says Blackwell and Vera Rubin GPUs could remain useful for seven or eight years, double the roughly four years many financial models assume. He ties the longer lifespan to financing terms for AI data centers, though the claim comes from the company that sells the chips.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Blackwell GPUs and the upcoming Vera Rubin architecture could remain useful for seven or eight years. Many financial models, by contrast, assume these chips last about four years.
Huang links chip lifespan to financing
Huang made the remarks in an interview on October 21, 2026. His view is that longer-lived chips carry more collateral value, which in turn can support more favorable credit terms for the deals that pay for AI infrastructure.
Nvidia also projects $1 trillion in combined revenue from Blackwell and Vera Rubin through 2027, up from a $500 billion projection previously. Blackwell entered volume production in 2025, and Vera Rubin is anticipated to ramp in the second half of 2026.
Operators already stretch older GPUs
CoreWeave has extended contracts on Nvidia's A100 GPUs, which launched in 2020, so they now run until 2029.
Meanwhile, operators are increasingly moving GPU depreciation schedules to five to six years, as older models continue to hold economic value. A shorter assumed life means bigger annual expenses and thinner reported profits, while a longer one spreads the cost out.
A seven-to-eight-year estimate still sits above industry schedules
Huang leads the company that sells these chips, so his view on their longevity is not a neutral assessment. The seven-to-eight-year lifespan is his estimate, and the industry's depreciation schedules of five to six years still sit below it.
Watch whether more operators follow CoreWeave in extending older GPU contracts, and whether depreciation schedules move closer to Huang's figure.
Source: Crypto Briefing
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