AMD unveils AI server as OpenAI taps its newest chips

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

Sign up here.

The MI400 series of chips will be the basis of a new server called “Helios” that AMD plans to release next year.

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.

“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,” Su said.

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,” Altman said.

AMD’s Su reiterated the company’s product plans for the next year, which will roughly match the annual release schedule that Nvidia began with its Blackwell chips.

AMD shares ended 2.2% lower after the company’s announcement. Kinngai Chan, an analyst at Summit Insights, said the chips announced on Thursday 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. But the company has made a concerted effort to improve its software and produce a line of chips that rival Nvidia’s performance.

Santa Clara, California-based AMD has made a series of small acquisitions in recent weeks and has added talent to its chip design and AI software teams. At the event, Su said the company has made 25 strategic investments in the past year that were related to the company’s AI plans.

Last week, AMD hired the team from chip startup Untether AI. On Wednesday, AMD said it had hired several employees from generative AI startup Lamini, including the co-founder and CEO.

AMD’s 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.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab