AMD has announced plans to acquire the open-source AI platform Nod.ai, in an attempt to catalyze developments on the company's AI software resources.

AMD's Recent Wave of Startup Acquisition Points at Intentions To Dominate The AI Industry

Saying that AMD and NVIDIA are currently in a "tech race", especially in the AI domain is a fact none can deny. Both companies are striving to improve their software capabilities, which will ultimately aim at enhancing computing performance. However, it's safe to say that AMD has lagged behind in all areas, and right now NVIDIA has been the dominating force in the market, grasping all share and leaving little behind. With the acquisition of Nod.ai, AMD intends to bolster its development of the company's software resources, to challenge its competitors.

The acquisition of Nod.ai is expected to significantly enhance our ability to provide AI customers with open software that allows them to easily deploy highly performant AI models tuned for AMD hardware.

The addition of the talented Nod.ai team accelerates our ability to advance open-source compiler technology and enable portable, high-performance AI solutions across the AMD product portfolio. Nod.ai’s technologies are already widely deployed in the cloud, at the edge and across a broad range of end point devices today.

-AMD's SVP AI Vamsi Boppana

Now, let's talk about what Nod.ai will bring to AMD's AI arsenal. The firm is widely known for its high-performance machine learning distribution mechanism, which the company names "SHARK". The automation software eradicates the need for manual optimizations and aids toward a "speedy" deployment of AI models, which will ultimately help AMD to build upon its existing products such as AMD CDNA, XDNA, RDNA, and “Zen” architectures.

While official figures of the acquisition haven't been disclosed yet, they will surface once the deal is sealed. However, with the inclusion of Nod.ai into Team Red's camp, it is evident that the company is ramping up its efforts towards building upon its AI software resources, which will help it compete with the likes of NVIDIA's CUDA in the long run. We could see a much more competitive field in the upcoming years, especially after the release of next-gen AI accelerators such as the Instinct MI400, which will bring significant computing performance onboard.

News Source: AMD