Written by Arshia Bajwa
TAIPEI (Reuters) – Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:) unveiled its latest artificial intelligence processors on Monday and detailed its plan to develop AI chips over the next two years in a bid to challenge industry leader Nvidia (NASDAQ:).
At the Computex technology trade show in Taipei, AMD CEO Lisa Su presented the MI325X accelerator, which is scheduled to be available in the fourth quarter of 2024.
The race to develop generative AI software has increased demand for advanced chips used in AI data centers capable of supporting these complex applications.
AMD, based in Santa Clara, California, competes with Nvidia, which currently dominates the lucrative market for artificial intelligence semiconductors and controls about 80% of its share.
AMD also introduced an upcoming series of chips titled MI350, which is expected to be available in 2025 and will be based on the new chip architecture.
Compared to the currently available MI300 series of AI chips, AMD said it expects the MI350 to perform 35 times better at inference — the process of calculating generative AI responses. In addition, AMD revealed the MI400 series, which will arrive in 2026 and will be based on an architecture called “Next.”
Investors who have poured billions of dollars into Wall Street trading have been seeking long-term updates from chip companies as they evaluate how long genAI's booming rally, which has so far shown no signs of slowing, will continue.
AMD shares have more than doubled since the start of 2023. That increase still pales in comparison to the more than seven-fold rise in Nvidia shares in the same time period.
AMD is aiming for a one-year product cycle for AI chips. Likewise, Nvidia said it plans to release a new family of AI chips every year.
AMD CEO Su said in April that the company expects AI chip sales of about $4 billion for 2024, an increase of $500 million from its previous estimate.
At the Computex event, AMD also said that the latest generation of central processors (CPUs) will likely be available in the second half of 2024.
While companies generally prioritize spending on AI chips in data centers, some AMD CPUs are being used alongside GPUs, although the ratio is skewed in favor of GPUs.
AMD's detailed architecture for new Neural Processing Units (NPUs), dedicated to handling on-device AI tasks in AI PCs.
Chipmakers are counting on additional artificial intelligence capabilities to drive growth in the personal computer market as it emerges from a years-long stagnation.
PC providers like HP (NYSE:) and Lenovo will release devices featuring AMD's AI PC chips. AMD said its processors exceed Microsoft's (NASDAQ:) Copilot+ PC requirements.