Nvidia says it has "exciting products and news" coming up that it wants to share with the world. Perhaps this includes the announcement of the next-generation Ampere GPU for next-generation GeForce graphics cards. However, Nvidia has decided to hold off on any major news announcements this month in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

"This is not an appropriate time; we will refrain from sharing GTC news for now. By doing so, our employees, our partners, the media and analysts who follow us, and our customers around the world can stay safe and focus on containing the spread of the virus," Nvidia said.

Nvidia's GPU Technology Conference is an annual event that typically features several announcements. While not always focused on gaming, it was widely expected that Nvidia would announce something (anything) about Ampere at this year's event.

Two weeks ago, Nvidia changed this year's GTC to a digital-only event, as large gatherings are generally discouraged to slow the spread of Covid-19. And last week, Nvidia canceled its scheduled keynote and said that the news it had planned to share at the keynote would be announced on Tuesday, March 24.

That is no longer true.

"We will still be streaming tons of great content from our researchers and developers who have prepared great talks. This is our time to focus on our families, friends, and community. Our employees work from home. Many hourly workers don't have to work, but are paid in full," Nvidia said.

As much as I and many others look forward to learning about Ampere, it is hard to argue with this move. This is a big announcement and, simply put, a change in priorities; Nvidia also deserves credit for promising to pay workers full wages while on vacation.

This also means that we will likely have to wait a bit longer to find out what that inexplicable blinking animation was all about.