Amazon's Rumored Partnership with AMD

Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world's leading provider of cloud computing services, is reportedly mulling over the use of Advanced Micro Devices Inc's (AMD) new artificial intelligence (AI) chips.

While no final decision has been made, an AWS executive revealed this development during an AMD event where the chip company unveiled its AI market strategy, currently dominated by rival Nvidia Corp.

The News about AWS

Following the news, AMD shares experienced a 1% surge, offsetting the 3.6% dip observed the previous day when the company chose not to disclose a flagship customer for its upcoming AI chip set to launch later this year.

In interviews, AMD CEO Lisa Su outlined the company's approach to attract major cloud computing customers, emphasizing the provision of a customizable menu of components necessary to build robust systems capable of powering services similar to ChatGPT. Su emphasized the importance of enabling customers to handpick the components they require, utilizing industry-standard connections.

While AWS has yet to make any public commitments regarding the integration of AMD's new MI300 chips into its cloud services, Dave Brown, Vice President of Elastic Compute Cloud at Amazon, confirmed that AWS is actively considering this collaboration. Brown noted ongoing discussions between AWS and AMD to determine the precise nature of the partnership and highlighted the benefits of AMD's chip design, which seamlessly integrates into existing systems.

Nvidia´s point of View

Nvidia, on the other hand, offers its chips individually but has also approached cloud providers with the proposition of offering a comprehensive system designed by Nvidia, known as DGX Cloud. Oracle Corp has become Nvidia's first partner for this system.

Brown disclosed that AWS declined Nvidia's invitation to participate in the DGX Cloud offering. According to him, after evaluating the business model, it did not align with AWS's expertise in building reliable servers and leveraging its existing supply chain capabilities. AWS prefers to design its servers from scratch, tailoring them to their specific requirements.

In March, AWS commenced the sale of Nvidia's H100 chip, incorporating it into systems of their own design.

"The fact that Amazon is considering AMD's MI300 is an indication of the growing appetite among tech companies to diversify their AI development hardware," commented Jacob Bourne, an analyst at Insider Intelligence. "This could pave the way for new opportunities for other chipmakers in the future."

Amazon's interest in AMD's AI chips signals a potential shift in the cloud computing market as major players seek to explore innovative hardware solutions to enhance their AI capabilities and offer customers increased customization options. The outcome of ongoing discussions between AWS and AMD will undoubtedly have far-reaching implications for the industry and open doors for further collaborations and technological advancements.