CES 2026 is wide open in Las Vegas, and AI is no longer the sideshow — it’s the main tent. But underneath the avalanche of “AI-powered” pitches, there were some genuinely important hardware moves and a few gloriously weird experiments.
Here’s what actually mattered on day one, from Nvidia’s Rubin architecture to Lego’s first-ever CES appearance.
Nvidia: Rubin architecture and open-source AI for autonomous vehicles
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang used his CES stage time to do three things: celebrate the company’s AI run, tease the next big architecture, and push deeper into real-world robots and cars.
Rubin computing architecture
- Rubin is Nvidia’s next computing architecture, designed to handle the growing compute demands of AI workloads.
- It’s scheduled to start replacing Blackwell in the second half of 2026.
- Nvidia is promising speed and storage upgrades over Blackwell, with the deeper technical differences broken down by TechCrunch’s Senior AI Editor Russell Brandom in a separate analysis.
Alpamayo for autonomous vehicles
- Nvidia also showed off Alpamayo, a family of open-source AI models and tools.
- Alpamayo is aimed at autonomous vehicles that will start using these models this year.
- As Senior Reporter Rebecca Bellan notes, this fits into Nvidia’s broader push to make its infrastructure the “Android for generalist robots”, extending its dominance from data centers into the physical world.
And yes, Huang also spent time on stage with robots — exactly the kind of optics Nvidia wants as it tries to own both the cloud and the factory floor.
AMD: Ryzen AI 400 PCs and a big-name AI partner lineup
AMD Chair and CEO Lisa Su delivered the first big keynote of CES 2026, and she stacked the stage with AI star power.
Her presentation featured:
- Greg Brockman, president of OpenAI
- AI researcher Fei-Fei Lei
- Amit Jain, CEO of Luma AI
- And several other partners building on AMD hardware
The headline for PC makers: Ryzen AI 400 Series processors.
Senior Reporter Rebecca Szkutak breaks down how AMD is using the Ryzen AI 400 line to push AI deeper into personal computers, not just servers and cloud instances. The message is clear: AMD wants AI PCs to be the new default, with local acceleration instead of everything living in the cloud.
Boston Dynamics, Hyundai and Google: Atlas gets a brain boost
Hyundai used its CES slot to talk robotics, putting Boston Dynamics front and center.
The key news: Boston Dynamics and Hyundai are partnering with Google’s AI research lab to train and operate existing Atlas robots, plus a new Atlas iteration that appeared on stage.
Transportation Editor Kirsten Korosec has the full breakdown, but the strategic signal is obvious: Boston Dynamics is leaning on Google’s AI stack instead of rival platforms as humanoid robots inch closer to commercial use.
Amazon: Alexa+, Alexa.com and Ring’s expanding footprint
Amazon is trying to make sure Alexa doesn’t get left behind in the AI chatbot era.
Alexa+ and Alexa.com
- Amazon is rolling out Alexa+, a more AI-centric version of its assistant.
- The company launched Alexa.com for Early Access customers, letting them use the Alexa+ chatbot directly in a web browser.
- There’s also a revamped, bot-focused app built around Alexa+.
Consumer Editor Sarah Perez details how this is meant to reframe Alexa from a voice helper into a full conversational AI.
Fire TV and Artline TVs
- Amazon is refreshing Fire TV.
- It’s also introducing new Artline TVs, which lean heavily on Alexa+ as a built-in assistant.
Ring’s new tricks
On the home security side, Consumer Reporter Ivan Mehta runs through a long list of Ring updates, including:
- Fire alerts
- An app store for third-party camera integration
- Additional features aimed at making Ring more of a platform than just a camera brand
Amazon’s message: your TV, browser, and security cams are all new front doors for its AI.
Razer: Project Motoko and AVA bring AI weirdness back
Razer usually owns CES with wild hardware: three-screen laptops, haptic gaming cushions, even a mask that eventually earned the company a federal fine.
For 2026, Razer is going heavy on AI companions.
Project Motoko
- Motoko is designed to act like smart glasses — but without the glasses.
- It’s an ambient assistant concept that tries to give you that always-available, heads-up AI experience without strapping hardware to your face.
Project AVA
- Project AVA plants an AI companion avatar on your desk.
- Razer’s concept video (shown at CES) imagines AVA as a kind of desktop presence you talk to, watch, and maybe game with.
Both projects are early and very much in the concept phase, but they show where Razer thinks AI-enabled hardware can get weird again.
Lego: Smart Bricks and a Star Wars-powered CES debut
For the first time, Lego officially joined CES — and it didn’t just bring static sets.
Behind closed doors, Lego showed its Smart Play System, which includes:
- Smart Bricks and tiles
- Interactive Minifigures
- All designed to interact with each other and play sounds
The debut sets are Star Wars–themed, blending the Lego building experience with reactive, electronic play.
Senior Writer Amanda Silberling has the full rundown on how this system works and what it means for Lego’s move deeper into connected toys.
The CES 2026 pattern: AI everywhere, hardware still matters
Across Nvidia, AMD, Amazon, Razer, Boston Dynamics, and Lego, the throughline is obvious: AI is the story, whether it’s running in a data center, on a laptop, inside a robot, in your living room, or hidden inside a toy brick.
But CES 2026 also proves the old rule still holds: the announcements that stick are the ones with real hardware attached. New architectures, new chips, new robots, new TVs, new toys — and yes, even a desktop AI avatar — are what cut through the “AI-powered” noise on the Las Vegas show floor.
