AMD is moving fast in AI, may join forces with Intel

AMD has made significant strides in AI. Last week, it announced that its first 1-billion parameter large language models were performing exceptionally well. Led by CEO Lisa Su and supported by CTO and Executive VP Mark Papermaster, AMD has done an admirable job of quickly pivoting after the initial surprise success of Nvidia and OpenAI to build a credible generative AI solution.

What makes it incredible is that it took almost 20 years to get to where Nvidia is — and while Nvidia has clearly cultivated the AI ​​field, AMD is planting AI seeds like crazy. While this could be considered a risk to Nvidia’s growth, demand for AI solutions remains high and largely unchanged. In a rapidly expanding market, all major players stand to benefit, and both AMD and Nvidia are well positioned to succeed.

Additionally, the US is pushing AMD and Intel to merge, which could eliminate a lot of marketing inefficiencies in the x86 space and allow both companies to better compete in the growing battle for AI dominance, where China represents the most significant competitor. threat

Let’s talk about AMD’s AI advancements and its potential tie-up with Intel. We’ll close with my product of the week: Google Gemini Advanced, which has proven incredibly helpful in creating images to accompany my writing.

AMD and AI

Nvidia caught the technology market with its pants down when it became clear that it was the technology behind OpenAI’s ChatGPT platform which, in turn, was the basis for Microsoft Copilot. Although Microsoft did a relatively poor job of launching Copilot+, Copilot has been extremely successful, especially with developers. Nvidia took almost two decades to build its incredible AI platform, it seemed unlikely that anyone would be able to compete with it for a few years.

Well, AMD apparently didn’t get that memo. To catch up with Nvidia, AMD bought Silo AI, a company known for its extensive AI expertise, even rivaling IBM. Silo AI is already gathering several successful AI projects in a market that is currently further defined by unsuccessful projects.

AMD’s methodical approach to AI is refreshing in a market where many players seem to be selling “solutions” that fall short. Sadly, this is the nature of a new technology market darling. People are so desperate to get it that they don’t look hard enough under the covers. The result is an unusually high failure rate.

However, both AMD and Nvidia are providing well-curated solutions. Nvidia built its capabilities largely organically, while AMD accelerated it through acquisition (given that Nvidia was the first mover, this option was not available to it at the time).

Much like AMD has always been a strong competitor to Intel and is even stronger today, it has become an impressively strong counterpart to Nvidia as both companies aggressively pursue this massive AI growth opportunity.

AMD and Intel may merge

Currently, AMD is outselling Intel in the data center space, which most of us thought was impossible. The change reflects the difficulty Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger faced as he tried to turn the company around, in part by navigating the CHIPS Act to build a massive U.S. microprocessor manufacturing capacity, a strategic imperative for both Intel and the U.S. government.

Intel is one of the “too big to fail” companies from a national security perspective, so the US government is pushing for an AMD/Intel merger where AMD would run the combined companies while manufacturing spins off as a separate entity.

Gelsinger will likely drive the manufacturing spin-out, giving Lisa Su the resources to better compete with the threat China represents, particularly Huawei, a company that has overcome US sanctions to challenge Apple. Huawei is considered one of the AI ​​challengers to Nvidia and by extension AMD and Intel.

The combination would significantly improve both x86’s prospects by eliminating unnecessary competition between AMD and Intel — both of which are facing challenges from Arm, China and Huawei — and would allow the U.S. to focus more of its strategic efforts on building domestic processor production.

wrap up

Technology is changing a lot. Companies are jumping to AI solutions like I’ve never seen before. AI ramp-up and competitive threats are pronounced. The United States, while currently in the lead, is being quickly approached by China, which is doing well with better government support than the United States has yet been able to generate.

I’m having a lot of fun with Google Gemini Advanced, so this is my product of the week. you should Check out the free version.