Forward-looking: Nvidia's GPU Technology Conference (GTC) kicked off today in an all-digital format. CEO Jensen Huang took to the stage to give us all the annual tidbits of juicy GPU news... and more. This time around, that news came in the form of a roadmap, which lays out Nvidia's rough hardware plans for the next four years.

Between now and 2025, Nvidia aims to release six generations of hardware. Two of them will center around GPUs: Ampere Next and Ampere "Next Next." We assume these architecture names aren't final, but the cards are set for release in 2022 and 2024, respectively.

That'll give everyone about another year to enjoy – or not, considering the widespread GPU shortages we've seen lately – Nvidia's 30-series GPUs before the next hardware leap arrives. If Nvidia sticks to its current RTX naming conventions, Ampere Next will likely be branded RTX 4000-series, with Next Next taking on the 5000-series moniker.

It's too early to predict things like performance, energy efficiency, or cooling capabilities for these next-gen GPUs, but other products are coming up on Nvidia's roadmap, too – namely, its newly-announced ARM-based CPUs (called Grace and Grace Next, for now). These CPUs are scheduled to launch in 2023 and 2025.

Finally, Nvidia's Data Processing Unit (DPU) Bluefield will also see two new iterations; Bluefield-3 in 2022 and Bluefield 4 in 2024. Nvidia hopes the new DPUs will offer exponential increases in raw processing power. Bluefield-3 is claimed to be 10 times faster than its predecessor, and Bluefield-4 could bring a 100x performance boost.