How did Nvidia move from Hopper to Vera Rubin production shipments?
Nvidia first introduced Hopper and began shipping the H100, then introduced the Blackwell platform and reported Blackwell sales. It publicly dated Vera Rubin for the second half of 2026, declared the platform in full production, and described a broad supply-chain ramp; Micron reported shipping HBM4 memory for Vera Rubin. Nvidia then stated that production shipments had begun in fiscal Q3 2027. Production declarations and production shipments are separate milestones, so the August shipment statement is the clearest evidence that the transition had reached deliveries.
Trace the chain
- 1Hopper announcedAnnouncement
Nvidia announces the Hopper architecture and H100 GPU at GTC 2022
Nvidia introduced Hopper, the successor to Ampere, with the H100 as its first GPU. The press release cites 80 billion transistors on a TSMC 4N process and says the H100 will be available in the third quarter.
Nvidia Newsroom ·
NVIDIA H100 will be available starting in the third quarter.
Why it matters here. Nvidia introduced Hopper and its H100 GPU, which Nvidia later said it had begun shipping.
- 2H100 shipsShipment
NVIDIA begins shipping Hopper-based H100 GPUs
NVIDIA said it began shipping the Hopper-based H100 Tensor Core GPU. It said the first H100 systems were available.
NVIDIA Newsroom ·
Began shipping the NVIDIA® H100 Tensor Core GPU based on the new NVIDIA Hopper™ architecture, with first systems available now.
Why it matters here. Nvidia's H100 shipment established Hopper delivery before Nvidia introduced the Blackwell platform.
- 3Blackwell announcedAnnouncement
Blackwell platform announced at GTC 2024 with B200 and GB200
Nvidia announced the Blackwell architecture in San Jose, listing the B200 Tensor Core GPU and the GB200 Grace Blackwell Superchip, which pairs two B200 GPUs with a Grace CPU. The release claims up to 25x lower cost and energy for LLM inference compared with H100.
Nvidia Investor Relations ·
Packed with 208 billion transistors, Blackwell-architecture GPUs are manufactured
Why it matters here. Nvidia introduced Blackwell, which it later reported had generated billions of dollars in first-quarter sales.
- 4Billions in Blackwell salesFinancial
First quarter of Blackwell sales: Nvidia cites billions in revenue, data center at $35.6 billion
Fourth-quarter fiscal 2025 results reported data center revenue of $35.6 billion. Nvidia said Blackwell AI supercomputers achieved billions of dollars in sales in their first quarter, without giving an exact figure in the release.
Nvidia Newsroom ·
Fourth-quarter revenue was a record $35.6 billion, up 16% from the previous quarter and up 93% from a year ago.
Why it matters here. After reporting Blackwell's first-quarter sales, Nvidia set Vera Rubin NVL144 for the second half of 2026.
- 5Rubin on the roadmapAnnouncement
Roadmap set: Vera Rubin NVL144 in H2 2026, Rubin Ultra in H2 2027
In the GTC 2025 keynote, Nvidia dated the next two generations. Vera Rubin NVL144 systems were slated for the second half of 2026 and Rubin Ultra systems for the second half of 2027.
Nvidia Blog ·
Systems built on Rubin Ultra, including the Vera Rubin NVL 144, will arrive in the second half of next year. And due for the second half of 2027: systems built on Rubin Ultra.
Why it matters here. Nvidia scheduled Vera Rubin NVL144 for the second half of 2026; the next entry records that Nvidia later said the platform's chips were in full production while maintaining that timing.
- 6Vera Rubin in full productionAnnouncement
Vera Rubin declared in full production at GTC 2026
Nvidia announced that the seven chips of the Vera Rubin platform were in full production and described the platform as five racks and one supercomputer. This kept to the second-half-2026 timing set a year earlier.
Nvidia Newsroom ·
Vera Rubin is a generational leap — seven breakthrough chips, five racks, one giant supercomputer — built to power every phase of AI
Why it matters here. Nvidia said Vera Rubin's chips were in full production, while Micron reported volume shipment of HBM4 designed for the platform.
- 7HBM4 in volumeLaunch
Micron in volume shipment of HBM4 for Nvidia Vera Rubin
Micron said it had begun volume shipment of HBM4 36GB 12-high in the first quarter of calendar 2026, designed for Nvidia's Vera Rubin platform, with a 2048-bit interface above 11 Gbps and more than 2.8 TB/s per stack.
Micron Investor Relations ·
Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: MU), has begun volume shipment of its HBM4 36GB 12H in the first quarter of calendar year 2026
Why it matters here. Micron's volume shipment of HBM4 for Vera Rubin complemented Nvidia's subsequent report that hundreds of supply-chain partners were ramping the platform.
HBM Supply Race: SK hynix, Samsung and Micron from HBM3E to HBM4E
- 8Supply chain rampsAnnouncement
Vera Rubin ramping across the supply chain; production shipments set for fall 2026
At GTC Taipei ahead of Computex, Nvidia said hundreds of supply chain partners across more than 350 factories in 30 countries were ramping Vera Rubin, with production shipments to begin in the fall.
Nvidia Newsroom ·
Production shipments of Vera Rubin are set to begin starting this fall.
Why it matters here. A supply chain already ramping made the fall target a date to be confirmed rather than a plan, and the next quarterly filing is where Nvidia confirmed it.
- 9Production shipments beginRegulatory
NVIDIA says Vera Rubin began production shipments in fiscal Q3 2027
NVIDIA stated that Vera Rubin began production shipments in the third quarter of fiscal 2027. The filing described Vera Rubin as its next-generation Data Center architecture.
NVIDIA Form 10-Q ·
Our next-generation Data Center architecture, Vera Rubin, began production shipments in the third quarter of fiscal year 2027.
Why it matters here. The filing closes the transition by confirming that Vera Rubin had moved from the earlier supply-chain ramp and fall target to production shipments in fiscal Q3 2027.
Changes to this chain
- Proposal #133 accepted (verify:v5): why of step 9 -> The filing closes the transition by confirming that Vera Rubin had moved from the earlier supply-chain ramp and fall target to production shipments in fiscal Q3 2027.
- Proposal #47 accepted (verify:v4): why of step 5 -> Nvidia scheduled Vera Rubin NVL144 for the second half of 2026; the next entry records that Nvidia later said the platform's chips were in full production while maintaining that timing.
- Step 9 why edited by the editor: A final step should conclude, not restate
- Step 8 why edited by the editor: Bridge to the next step instead of restating the entry
- Proposal #8 accepted (verify:v1): why of step 1 -> Nvidia introduced Hopper and its H100 GPU, which Nvidia later said it had begun shipping.; why of step 2 -> Nvidia's H100 shipment established Hopper delivery before Nvidia introduced the Blackwell platform.; why of step 3 -> Nvidia introduced Blackwell, which it later reported had generated billions of dollars in first-quarter sales.; why of step 4 -> After reporting Blackwell's first-quarter sales, Nvidia set Vera Rubin NVL144 for the second half of 2026.; why of step 6 -> Nvidia said Vera Rubin's chips were in full production, while Micron reported volume shipment of HBM4 designed for the platform.; why of step 7 -> Micron's volume shipment of HBM4 for Vera Rubin complemented Nvidia's subsequent report that hundreds of supply-chain partners were ramping the platform.
- Step labels rewritten by the editor
Timelines in this chain
- Nvidia Data Center GPUs: Hopper, Blackwell and Vera Rubin
- HBM Supply Race: SK hynix, Samsung and Micron from HBM3E to HBM4E
- AMD Instinct: From MI300X to Helios and the Gigawatt Deals
- US Export Controls on Nvidia AI Chips to China: A100 to H20 to H200
A chain is written by the editor from entries already published on the timelines above, each of which was read against its source before publication. The chain changes when those entries do. Data and terms.