AMD Invests in AI Company to Compete with Nvidia

MetaversePlanet October 11, 2023Last Updated: February 20, 2024

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In a strategic effort to close the artificial intelligence gap with its competitor Nvidia, AMD has announced plans to increase its investment in the essential software needed for its advanced AI chips.

To reinforce this initiative, AMD has recently declared its acquisition of an AI startup called Nod.ai, with the goal of enhancing its software expertise.

AMD buys Nod.ai for artificial intelligence

AMD bought an artificial intelligence company to catch up with Nvidia

Nvidia has established a dominant presence in the artificial intelligence chip market, leveraging over a decade of experience, proprietary software development, and a strong developer ecosystem. Conversely, AMD entered the competition later but has committed to significant investments in developing a comprehensive software suite to optimize its diverse range of chips. AMD’s president, Victor Peng, explained that this strategy involves a combination of internal investments and strategic acquisitions.

The acquisition of Nod.ai is a key part of this strategy, as Nod.ai’s technology allows companies to more effectively deploy AI models, especially those designed for AMD’s chips. Nod.ai, which sells its technology to major data center operators among other clients, was valued at $36.5 million recently. However, AMD has decided to keep the financial details of the acquisition confidential.

Additionally, AMD has recently laid the groundwork for its artificial intelligence division, incorporating Nod.ai into this new structure. This division, which includes around 1,500 engineers primarily focused on software, is expected to grow with the addition of 300 more individuals within this year and even more in 2024. With this move, AMD introduces an internal platform, SHARK, aimed at competing with Nvidia’s CUDA platform. Unlike Nvidia, AMD plans to offer SHARK as an open-source platform.

Founded in 2013, Nod.ai has played a crucial role in creating a software ecosystem that equips developers with the tools, libraries, and models needed to support Ryzen AI chips in consumer PCs, as well as AMD’s silicon for data center applications, including EPYC CPUs, Radeon GPUs, and Versal processors. This ecosystem facilitates the deployment of AI solutions.