AMD unveils AI server in challenge to Nvidia's dominance as OpenAI taps its newest chips

Straits Times

20 hours ago

AMD's MI400 series of chips will be the basis of a new server called 'Helios' that AMD plans to release in 2026. PHOTO: ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES
SAN JOSE - Advanced Micro Devices chief executive officer Lisa Su on June 12 unveiled a new artificial intelligence server for 2026 that aims to challenge Nvidia's flagship offerings as OpenAI's CEO said the ChatGPT creator would adopt AMD's latest chips.
Ms Su took the stage at a developer conference in San Jose, California, called 'Advancing AI' to discuss the MI350 series and MI400 series AI chips that she said would compete with Nvidia's Blackwell line of processors
The MI400 series of chips will be the basis of a new server called 'Helios' that AMD plans to release in 2026.
The move comes as the competition between Nvidia and other AI chip firms has shifted away from selling individual chips to selling servers packed with scores or even hundreds of processors, woven together with networking chips from the same company.
The AMD Helios servers will have 72 of AMD's MI400 series chips, making them comparable to Nvidia's current NVL72 servers, AMD executives said.
During its keynote presentation, AMD said that many aspects of the Helios servers - such as the networking standards - would be made openly available and shared with competitors such as Intel. The move was a direct swipe at market leader Nvidia, which uses proprietary technology called NVLink to string together its chips but has recently started to license that technology as pressure mounts from rivals.
'The future of AI is not going to be built by any one company or in a closed ecosystem. It's going to be shaped by open collaboration across the industry,' Ms Su said.
Ms Su was joined onstage by OpenAI's Sam Altman. The ChatGPT creator is working with AMD on the firm's MI450 chips to improve their design for AI work.
'Our infrastructure ramp-up over the last year, and what we're looking at over the next year, have just been a crazy, crazy thing to watch,' Mr Altman said.
During her speech, executives from Elon Musk-owned xAI, Meta Platforms and Oracle took to the stage to discuss their respective uses of AMD processors. Crusoe, a cloud provider that specializes in AI, told Reuters it is planning to buy US$400 million (S$511 million) of AMD's new chips.
AMD's Ms Su reiterated the company's product plans for 2026, which will roughly match the annual release schedule that Nvidia began with its Blackwell chips.
AMD shares ended 2.2 per cent lower after the company's announcement. Kinngai Chan, an analyst at Summit Insights, said the chips announced on June 12 were not likely to immediately change AMD's competitive position.
AMD has struggled to siphon off a portion of the quickly growing market for AI chips from the dominant Nvidia. Its software called ROCm has struggled to gain traction against Nvidia's CUDA, which is seen by some industry insiders as a key part of protecting the company's dominance.
But AMD has made a concerted effort to improve its software and produce a line of chips that rival Nvidia's performance. AMD completed the acquisition of server builder ZT Systems in March. As a result, AMD is expected to launch new complete AI systems, similar to several of the server-rack-sized products Nvidia produces.
AMD has also made a series of small acquisitions in recent weeks and has added talent to its chip design and AI software teams. At the event, Ms Su said the company has made 25 strategic investments in the past year that were related to the company's AI plans.
When AMD reported earnings in May, Ms Su said that despite increasingly aggressive curbs on AI chip exports to China, AMD still expected strong double-digit growth from AI chips. REUTERS
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