AMD acquires private Finnish AI lab Silo AI in $665 million cash deal

Semiconductor giant AMD has announced the acquisition of Silo AI, Europe’s largest private AI lab, in a $665 million cash deal expected to close in the second half of 2024. 

The spurs on AMD’s strategy to offer end-to-end AI solutions for hardware, software, and services as it competes against industry titan NVIDIA.

Silo AI is also known for creating innovative open-source large language models (LLMs) like Poro and Viking that are optimized for AMD hardware.

The company has also developed AI models and solutions for major enterprises, such as Allianz, Philips, Rolls-Royce, and Unilever.

“Silo AI’s team of trusted AI experts and proven experience developing leadership AI models and solutions, including state-of-the-art LLMs built on AMD platforms, will further accelerate our AI strategy and advance the build-out and rapid implementation of AI solutions for our global customers,” said Vamsi Boppana, SVP of AMD’s Artificial Intelligence Group.

AMD aims to seize ground from NVIDIA

Bringing Silo AI into the fold will provide an immediate boost to AMD’s AI chips. 

The acquisition enhances AMD’s ability to offer a wider range of AI solutions, including chips, software models, and implementation services.

It positions AMD to ramp up its completion against NVIDIA, which has essentially quadrupled its value in just over a year by selling AI-oriented products to this frenzied market. 

Slowly and quietly, AMD has been rapidly building out its own AI ecosystem over the past year, investing over $125 million in a dozen AI companies and making other strategic acquisitions.

Silo AI marks AMD’s largest AI deal yet, though, and brings unique assets to the table. In addition to its team and customer base, Silo AI has valuable experience collaborating with research institutions to optimize AI model training on powerful supercomputers using AMD chips. 

For example, it helped train state-of-the-art open-source European language models on LUMI, the continent’s fastest supercomputer powered by over 12,000 AMD Instinct GPUs.

The hefty $665 million price tag demonstrates the high stakes in the enterprise infrastructure and services market. 

Demand is surging for end-to-end platforms that simplify enterprise AI development. NVIDIA dominates this market, but there’s room for others to take a slice, even if small for now. 

If there ever was to be a chink in NVIDIA’s armor, AMD would be waiting to seize whatever custom it can.

Of course, competition will remain fierce as tech giants all invest heavily to capture share in this key growth market. 

However, with its strong chip portfolio and the AI software capabilities it’s gaining through acquisitions, AMD is positioning itself as an increasingly formidable player. 

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