AMD reveals new AI chip challenging Nvidia’s dominance

With its CDNA architecture and 192GB memory capacity, the MI300X by AMD accommodates larger AI models.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) on Tuesday, June 13, gave new details about an artificial intelligence (AI) chip that will challenge market leader Nvidia Corp.

The California-based AMD said its most-advanced graphics processing unit (GPU) for AI, the MI300X, will start trickling out in the third quarter and be followed by mass production beginning in the fourth quarter.

AMD’s announcement represents the most substantial challenge to Nvidia, which currently dominates the market for AI chips with over 80% market share. GPUs are chips used by firms like OpenAI to build cutting-edge AI programs such as ChatGPT. They have parallel processing capabilities and are optimized for handling large amounts of data simultaneously, making them well-suited for tasks that require high-speed and efficient graphical processing.

AMD announced that its latest MI300X chip and CDNA architecture was specifically developed to cater to the demands of large language models and advanced AI models. With a maximum memory capacity of 192GB, the MI300X enables the accommodation of even larger AI models compared to other chips like Nvidia’s H100 chip which supports a maximum of 120GB of memory.

AMD announced the Infinity Architecture, which combines eight M1300X accelerators into a single system, mirroring similar systems by Nvidia and Google that integrate eight or more GPUs for AI applications.

During the presentation to investors and analysts in San Francisco, AMD chief executive officer, Lisa Su highlighted that AI represents the company’s “most significant and strategically important long-term growth opportunity.”

“We think about the data center AI accelerator [market] growing from something like $30 billion this year, at over 50% compound annual growth rate, to over $150 billion in 2027,” 

If developers and server manufacturers adopt AMD’s “accelerator” AI chips as alternatives to Nvidia’s products, it could open up a significant untapped market for the chipmaker. AMD, renowned for its conventional computer processors, stands to benefit from this potential shift in demand.

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Although AMD did not reveal specific pricing details, this action could potentially exert downward price pressure on Nvidia’s GPUs, including models like the H100, which can carry price tags of $30,000 or higher. Reduced GPU prices have the potential to contribute to lowering the overall expenses associated with running resource-intensive generative AI applications.

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