UPDATE 2-AMD says Meta is using its cloud chip as it rolls out AI strategy update
UPDATE 3-AMD says Meta is using its cloud chip as it rolls out AI strategy update
June 13 (Reuters) - Advanced Micro Devices said on Tuesday that companies such as Meta are ordering high volumes of a new central processor, as investors were anxious for updates on a different new chip designed specifically for AI systems like ChatGPT.
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What are the other applications that the chip could be used for?
Chief Executive Lisa Su said AMD has started shipping its "Bergamo" central processor. Alexis Black Bjorlin, who oversees computing infrastructure at Facebook parent Meta said the firm has adopted it. They spoke at an event in San Francisco where AMD was set to introduce its new artificial intelligence chip.
The Bergamo chip targets a different part of AMD's data center business, which also houses the company's "MI" series of chips for artificial intelligence, where it hopes to compete against Nvidia Corp with a new "superchip" that analysts expect it to detail on Tuesday.
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What are the businesses that AMD is targeting with the new chip?
"There's no question that AI will be the key driver of silicon consumption for the foreseeable future, but the largest opportunity is in the data center," Su said.
Analysts expect fresh details about a chip called the MI300, AMD's most advanced graphics processing unit (GPU), the category of chips that companies like OpenAI use to develop products such as ChatGPT.
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What is AMD's latest chip that has been unveiled?
Nvidia dominates the AI computing market with 80% to 95% of market share, according to analysts. Last month, Nvidia's market capitalization briefly touched $1 trillion after the company said it expected a jump in revenue after it secured new chip supplies to meet surging demand.
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What is the current market share of Nvidia and AMD in the AI industry?
Nvidia shares have surged 170% so far this year and were up 3.3% on Tuesday. AMD stock, which has doubled, were down marginally but touched a 16-month high on Tuesday.
Nvidia has few competitors working at a large scale. While Intel Corp and several startups such as Cerebras Systems and SambaNova Systems have competing products, Nvidia's biggest sales threat so far is the internal chip efforts at Alphabet Inc's Google and Amazon.com's cloud unit, both of which rent their custom chips to outside developers.
AMD's new chip won't change that right away. Su told investors during an earnings call last month that the MI300 will start generating sales in the fourth quarter, but "will be more meaningful in 2024."
As well, Nvidia's lead has come not just from its chips, but from more than a decade of providing software tools to AI researchers and learning to anticipate what they will need in chips that take years to design.
Kevin Krewell, principal analyst at TIRIAS Research, said AMD will have to catch up on both software and research trends.
"They have to connect with the research community to understand what the market is doing and what they need to do, well ahead of when something becomes important," Krewell said.