This column is a look back at the week in AI. Read the previous installment here.
In the ever-expanding world of AI, we often focus on the machinations of companies like Microsoft, Google, and NVIDIA, but sometimes forget about other big tech companies.
Such is the case with AMD, which made headlines this week when it announced it would acquire server maker ZT Systems for $4.9 billion in a cash-and-stock deal in an attempt to challenge chip giant Nvidia in AI-focused data center technology.
It wasn’t a completely out-of-the-blue deal — AMD’s market capitalization exceeds $250 billion and it’s the second-largest supplier of the graphics processors needed for AI — but it underscored the company’s ambitions in a field in which it has been active as an investor for some time.
AMD itself has made four AI-focused investments in the startup world in the past year, according to Crunchbase.
The company last month participated in AI infrastructure startup Fireworks AI’s $52 million Series B funding, as did other companies in the AI space, including Nvidia and Databricks Ventures. Late last year, AMD participated in Essential AI’s $56.5 million funding. The startup is looking to use AI to automate tedious enterprise tasks. Nvidia and Google also participated in the round. Last October, AMD co-led Moreh’s $22 million Series B funding, which develops AI software tools to optimize and create AI models. Finally, last August, AMD participated in Hugging Face’s massive $235 million round, valued at $4.5 billion. The New York-based startup allows companies to store and use AI software, and hosts hundreds of thousands of open-source AI models that developers can use for their AI applications. Led by Salesforce Ventures, this massive first round included some of the biggest names in the tech industry, including Qualcomm, Nvidia, Intel, IBM, Google and Amazon.
AMD’s venture arm, AMD Ventures, has been similarly busy in the AI space, with a string of big deals this year alone, according to Crunchbase.
In March, AMD Ventures participated in a $175 million Series C round for optical interconnect startup Celestial AI. The company’s photonic fabric platform separates compute and memory, accelerating pervasive AI processing and improving computing energy efficiency. In April, AMD Ventures participated in the seed round and Series A of enterprise AI platform Lamini. The startup enables companies to build their own AI securely and cost-effectively. The company was also part of a large group that participated in a massive $1 billion round for data labeling and assessment startup Scale AI in May, which brought its valuation to a staggering $13.8 billion. Other big tech-related investors who participated in that round included Nvidia, Meta, Amazon, Cisco Investments, Intel Capital, ServiceNow Ventures, and others. Finally, last month, AMD participated in another large deal, participating in a $500 million Series D for leading language model builder Cohere, valuing the startup at $5.5 billion. The round also included Cisco, Nvidia, Salesforce Ventures, and others.
While it’s no surprise that AMD is investing heavily in the generative AI space, these deals (some of them large) along with the big acquisition of ZT Systems clearly signal that the semiconductor company plans to be second to none when it comes to AI and, more importantly, the sheer amount of infrastructure needed to support it.
While Nvidia has certainly grabbed most of the headlines when it comes to early efforts to gain an AI advantage, there are certainly well-funded competitors that show no signs of retreating from the AI race.
Some things that caught our eye and more:
Defense tech has been in the news a lot lately (like here and here). AI certainly plays a part in why, but this week we had another example: Defcon AI, which has developed an AI-driven decision-making tool for military logistics planning, raised $44 million in a seed round led by Bessemer Venture Partners. The Air Force’s Air Mobility Command has already deployed the platform. The company claims that the Air Force can now create an airlift network to move personnel and equipment around the world in under 10 minutes during a crisis.
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Illustration: Dom Guzman
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