Exclusive: Amazon’s Cloud unit is studying AMD’s new AI chips

SAN FRANCISCO, June 14 (Reuters) – Amazon Web Services (AMZN.O), the world’s largest provider of cloud computing, is considering using new artificial intelligence chips from Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD.O), although it has not reached to an end. with the decision, an AWS executive told Reuters.

The comments came during an AMD event where the chip company outlined its strategy for the artificial intelligence market, which is dominated by rival Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O).

AMD shares rose 1.7% in premarket trading following the news. It closed down 3.6% on Tuesday after AMD did not disclose a major customer for an AI chip coming later this year.

In interviews with Reuters, AMD CEO Lisa Su outlined an approach to winning over major cloud computing customers by providing a list of all the pieces needed to build the kinds of systems to run ChatGPT-like services, while letting customers pick and choose any of them. want, using industry standard connections.

“We bet a lot of people want choice, that they want the ability to customize what they need in their data center,” Su said.

While AWS has not made any public commitments to use AMD’s new MI300 chips in its cloud services, Dave Brown, vice president of cloud elastic computing at Amazon, said AWS is considering it.

“We’re still working together on exactly where that will go between AWS and AMD, but it’s something our teams are working together on,” Brown said. “This is where we benefited from some of the work they’ve been doing around design that plugs into existing systems.”

Nvidia sells its chips piecemeal but also asks cloud providers if they’re willing to offer a complete system that Nvidia has designed in a product called DGX Cloud. Oracle Corp. (ORCL.N) is Nvidia’s first partner for this system.

Brown said AWS declined to work with Nvidia on the DGX Cloud bid.

“They reached out to us, we looked at the business model, and it just didn’t make sense” for AWS given the company’s long experience building reliable servers and existing supply chain expertise, Brown said.

Brown said AWS prefers to design its own servers from the ground up. AWS began selling Nvidia’s H100 chip in March, but as part of systems of its own design.

Additional reporting by Stephen Nelis in San Francisco; Editing by Kim Coghill

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