What are the next GenAI/GPU catalysts?

Investing.com -- In a report published Thursday, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) outlined key upcoming catalysts for the generative AI (GenAI) and GPU sectors, highlighting events and product launches that could impact return on invested capital (ROIC) and long-term growth trajectories.

In April, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) is hosting its inaugural LlamaCon, a developer conference expected to showcase updates to its Llama family of open-source models.

“META could share important updates around Meta AI adoption, product pipelines, and even debut its Llama 4 model, which may feature new agentic and reasoning capabilities,” Morgan Stanley notes.

Additionally, Meta’s Meta Connect event in September will likely provide updates on AI integrations in smart glasses, Orion, and other hardware products.

Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google Cloud Next (LON:NXT), scheduled for April 9-11, is another major event where Google is expected to unveil advancements in its cloud offerings.

Following Google’s acquisition of Wiz, Morgan Stanley anticipates that the tech giant “may also share additional AI integrations/use cases that are seeing traction among enterprises."

Wiz’s integration into Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is expected to improve security and AI functionality.

Later, Google I/O in May could introduce more AI-powered search capabilities and new ad monetization strategies, while Google Marketing Live later that month may provide insights into Performance Max ad innovations and AI Overview monetization trends.

Nvidia’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) rollout of its Blackwell GPU units is another major catalyst highlighted by Morgan Stanley, with unit shipments expected to scale significantly throughout 2025.

According to the Wall Street firm, Nvidia is projected to deliver roughly 705,000 units in fiscal Q1 2026 (April 2025), ramping up to ~1.35 million units by fiscal Q4 2026.

"Blackwell rollout can help alleviate some chip/supply constraints important to driving innovation and new products for META, AWS, GCP, etc,” the note says.

OpenAI’s potential launch of GPT-5 in mid-to-late 2025 is also firmly on investors’ radar. While no official launch date has been confirmed, Morgan Stanley expects "GPT 5 to feature the latest advancements in reasoning, memory, and multimodal capabilities.”

Another notable catalyst is Perplexity’s partnership with Selfbook and TripAdvisor (NASDAQ:TRIP), which introduces a booking feature to its platform, initially focused on hotels but expected to expand to flights and car rentals.

This move "has the potential for monetization and increased engagement,” Morgan Stanley notes, as AI continues to play a larger role in travel services.

Scheduled for fall of 2025, investors are also awaiting the launch of Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Alexa+, a multimodal conversational AI assistant integrated across Amazon and third-party apps.

"Free with Prime could be a differentiator and an example of eCommerce innovation to drive ROIC on GenAI capex and more durable multi-year AMZN Retail Growth,” the bank wrote.

Additionally, Amazon plans to roll out Health AI, a chatbot providing users with clinically verified medical guidance, which will integrate with its online pharmacy and One Medical (TASE:BLWV) services.

AWS re:Invent in December is another event where Amazon is expected to unveil AI-driven applications and services designed to enhance productivity, efficiency, and revenue generation.