AMD unveils its latest AI chips
AMD announced the launch of its latest AI chips at its Advancing AI 2024 event in San Francisco, California.
This announcement comes as part of a series of announcements through which AMD seeks to strengthen its position in the artificial intelligence market, in direct competition with Nvidia, the leader in this field, and increase its market share in the face of Intel, the traditional competitor in the field of server processors.
AMD unveiled the fifth generation of EPYC processors for AI servers, the Instinct MI325X processor for AI acceleration, and the Ryzen AI PRO 300 series processors designed specifically for enterprise-class computers.
AMD says its $14,800 EPYC 9965 processor outperforms Intel's Xeon processors in some applications, with varying improvements across all aspects of performance.
As for AI acceleration processors, AMD revealed details of the “MI325X” processor, which is said to outperform Nvidia’s popular “H200” processor, as it contains 256 GB of HBM3E memory. The company explained that its processor offers higher memory capacity and bandwidth compared to Nvidia’s processor.
Companies like Dell, Gigabyte, Lenovo and others are expected to start offering systems based on the “MI325” in the first quarter of 2025, and the company is preparing to launch the next generation of the “MI350X” processor in the second half of next year, while Nvidia will work on launching the next generation of artificial intelligence servers based on “Blackwell” processors.
Data centers have become a new competitive arena for AMD, Nvidia, and Intel, as they race to capitalize on the ongoing AI boom and attract as many customers as possible.
This competition has led to huge revenues for both AMD and Nvidia. In the most recent fiscal quarter, AMD posted record data center sales of $2.8 billion, up 115% year-over-year. However, that revenue is still far behind Nvidia, which posted data center sales of $26.3 billion, up 154% year-over-year.
In the desktop segment, AMD showcased the Ryzen AI PRO 300 processor, which the company says offers 40% better performance than Intel's Core Ultra 7 165U.
AMD and Intel are looking to attract customers in the AI-powered PC market, though demand for these devices has not yet met expectations amid declining global PC shipments.
With the Christmas holiday season approaching, the two companies are looking to boost sales of these devices amid the growing interest in artificial intelligence applications.