Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) has made a strategic move to expand its open AI software capabilities by acquiring Nod.ai, a provider of compiler-based automation software. This acquisition will bring in a team with extensive experience in software development, with a focus on accelerating the deployment of AI solutions suitable for AMD’s various hardware platforms.
Nod.ai’s SHARK software is a key part of their offering, designed to reduce the need for manual optimization and streamline the deployment of high-performance AI models across AMD’s data center accelerators, Ryzen AI processors, EPYC processors, Versal SoCs, and Radeon GPUs.
This move is expected to enhance AMD’s competitive position in the software market, particularly against NVIDIA, a key rival. NVIDIA offers its CUDA toolkit, which provides a development environment for creating high-performance GPU-accelerated applications.
While AMD faces stiff competition in the AI chip market, it has been able to maintain a strong product portfolio and expand its partner base. The company’s efforts in the enterprise data center arena, bolstered by its fourth-generation EPYC CPUs and Pensando data processing units, have been significant. AMD has established partnerships with tech giants like Dell Technologies, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Alibaba (NYSE:BABA), and Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), which have driven its growth.
Furthermore, cloud providers, including Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), AWS, Alibaba, and Oracle, deployed AMD’s Genoa technology in the second quarter of 2023. Microsoft Azure introduced Genoa-X HPC instances that offer substantially improved performance in technical computing workloads. Dell is leveraging AMD EPYC fourth-generation CPUs in its PowerEdge C6615 server, enhancing computing efficiency for cloud service providers.
AMD-powered cloud instances are also on the rise, with over 670 instances publicly available. This number is expected to grow by 30% to reach 900 by the end of 2023, mainly due to the adoption of Genoa. Additionally, the launch of Bergamo-based platforms by server providers like Dell, HPE, Lenovo, and Supermicro in the current quarter is set to further boost AMD’s prospects.
AMD’s acquisition of Nod.ai reflects its commitment to strengthening its AI software capabilities and remaining competitive in the rapidly evolving AI and data processing landscape.
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