On the heels of successful a 30,000 GPU cluster deal with Oracle, AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) immediately introduced a transfer into the AI infrastructure enviornment, reflecting a development towards integration — or verticalization — of chip makers and the AI manufacturing unit, outlined by no less than one firm (knowledge heart firm Vertiv) the AI “unit of compute.”
AMD introduced the acquisition of ZT Programs, a supplier of AI and cloud infrastructure tools for hyperscales. In response to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the acquisition, first disclosed final August, was priced at $4.9 billion. AMD stated the acquisition will allow “a brand new class of end-to-end AI options based mostly on the mix of AMD CPU, GPU and networking silicon, open-source AMD ROCm software program and rack-scale programs capabilities.” An “AI manufacturing unit” is a centered and specialised technique for constructing knowledge facilities that help AI deployment at scale.
GPU market chief Nvidia additionally has invested in AI infrastructure, together with a multi-year relationship with GPU knowledge heart firm CoreWeave, whose IPO last week was buoyed by Nvidia.
“With the speedy tempo of innovation in AI, decreasing the end-to-end design and deployment time of cluster-level knowledge heart AI programs will likely be a big aggressive benefit for our prospects,” stated Forrest Norrod, EVP/GM, Information Heart Options enterprise unit at AMD. “Buying ZT Programs is a big milestone in our AI technique to ship management coaching and inferencing options which might be optimized for our prospects’ distinctive surroundings, ready-to-deploy at scale, and based mostly on our open ecosystem strategy that mixes open-source software program, {industry} commonplace networking applied sciences and now ZT Programs’ management programs design and buyer enablement experience. ”
He stated AMD welcomes Frank Zhang, Doug Huang and different managers and colleagues from the ZT Programs group to AMD, “the place collectively we are going to provide prospects each selection and pace to market, permitting them to spend money on key areas the place they select to distinguish their AI choices.”
AMD expects the transaction to be accretive on a non-GAAP foundation by the tip of 2025. The world-class design groups will be part of the AMD Information Heart Options enterprise unit led by AMD Govt Vice President Forrest Norrod. AMD is actively engaged with a number of potential strategic companions to amass ZT Programs’ industry-leading U.S.-based knowledge heart infrastructure manufacturing enterprise in 2025.
Former ZT Programs Founder and CEO Frank Zhang joins AMD as SVP of ZT Manufacturing, reporting to Norrod. Former ZT Programs President Doug Huang joins AMD as SVP of Information Heart Platform Engineering, additionally reporting to Norrod. On this position, he’ll lead design and buyer enablement groups, working with the AMD Information Heart Options enterprise unit and AI Group.
