In 1849, when the Gold Rush hit California, the people who were certain to make money were not the miners, but the sellers of picks and shovels. Indeed, America's first millionaire, Samuel Brannan, made his fortune by adding huge margins to everyday items that suddenly become high in demand. 

Today's sellers of picks and shovels are those providing the hardware and infrastructure to the software and platform providers, and one company stands apart as the beneficiary of the recent boom times in artificial intelligence: Nvidia. 

They're currently among the top three listed companies in the US, alongside Apple and Microsoft, and are incredibly profitable, with estimated margins in excess of 40%. They've been around for 30 years, and are much more than simply chip fabricators. 

This week on Cleaning Up, Bryony Worthington sits down with Josh Parker, Nvidia’s head of sustainability, to explore some of the challenges and opportunities he sees in the AI and Climate space.

Leadership Circle: 

Cleaning Up is supported by the Leadership Circle, and its founding members: Actis, Alcazar Energy, Davidson Kempner, EcoPragma Capital, EDP of Portugal, Eurelectric, the Gilardini Foundation, KKR, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, SDCL and Wärtsilä. For more information on the Leadership Circle, please visit https://www.cleaningup.live. 

Discover more:

• Episode 204, the Sierra Leone special: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-5QjSfy2SM 
• Nvidia’s Sustainability Report:
• Earth2: https://www.nvidia.com/en-gb/high-performance-computing/earth-2/
• cBottle: https://catalog.ngc.nvidia.com/orgs/nvidia/teams/earth-2/models/cbottle
• Michael’s piece on AI efficiency: 
• https://mliebreich.substack.com/p/ai-data-centre-power-and-glory-an