Semiconductor giant AMD has announced the acquisition of Silo AI, Europe's largest private AI lab, in a $665 million money deal expected to shut within the second half of 2024.
This is fueling AMD's technique to offer end-to-end AI solutions for hardware, software and services in competition with industry giant NVIDIA.
AI Silo can also be known for creating revolutionary open source Large Language Models (LLMs) corresponding to Poro and Viking which are optimized for AMD hardware.
The company has also developed AI models and solutions for major corporations corresponding to Allianz, Philips, Rolls-Royce and Unilever.
“The Silo AI team consists of trusted AI experts and has proven experience in developing leading AI models and solutions, including cutting-edge LLMs on AMD platforms, will further speed up our AI strategy and drive the expansion and rapid implementation of AI solutions for our global customers,” said Vamsi BoppanaSVP of AMD's Artificial Intelligence Group.
AMD desires to outdo NVIDIA
The inclusion of Silo AI will give AMD’s AI chips a direct boost.
The acquisition will enable AMD to supply a broader range of AI solutions, including chips, software models and implementation services.
This enables AMD to extend its competition against NVIDIA, which essentially quadrupled its value in only over a 12 months by selling AI-focused products to this heated market.
Slowly and quietly, AMD has rapidly built its own AI ecosystem over the past 12 months, investing over $125 million in a dozen AI corporations and making other strategic acquisitions.
However, Silo AI represents AMD's largest AI deal thus far and brings unique advantages.
In addition to its team and customer base, Silo AI has worthwhile experience working with research institutions to optimize the training of AI models on powerful supercomputers with AMD chips.
For example, the training of state-of-the-art European open source language models was supported on ROOMthe fastest supercomputer on the continent with over 12,000 AMD Instinct GPUs.
The hefty price tag of $665 million underscores how much is at stake within the enterprise infrastructure and services market.
Demand for end-to-end platforms that simplify enterprise AI development is growing rapidly. NVIDIA dominates this market, but there continues to be room for others to grab a bit of the pie, even whether it is small for the time being.
If there was ever a chink in NVIDIA's armor, AMD could be waiting to lure in any customer it could get.
Of course, competition will remain fierce as all technology giants invest heavily to achieve share on this essential growth market.
However, AMD is positioning itself as an increasingly serious player because of its strong chip portfolio and the AI software competencies acquired through acquisitions.
