AMD acquired yesterday Nodding each otheris an open-source AI software provider, and the chipmaker is ramping up its efforts to build an ecosystem of AI development tools, libraries, and models around its hardware.
According to CNBC, the acquisition is expected to close this quarter report. AMD did not disclose details of the deal.
in press releaseAMD SVP Vamsi Boppana said the acquisition of Nod.ai “significantly expands AMD’s ability to provide customers with software that easily deploys high-performance AI models tailored for AMD hardware.” He said it would be strengthened.
“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,” said Boppana. “Nod.ai’s technology is already widely deployed today across cloud, edge, and a wide range of endpoint devices.”
Santa Clara-based Nod.ai was co-founded in 2013 by Anush Elangovan and Harsh Menon. Elangovan was part of Google’s first Chromebook team and was Cisco’s lead engineer. Menon previously worked at Kitty Hawk, a now-defunct electric aircraft company backed by Google co-founder Larry Page.
Nod.ai initially aimed to build a gaming-focused device for gesture recognition and motion tracking. But eventually he will pivot to AI modeling tools that reduce the need for AI developers to manually optimize and deploy AI models running in data centers and edge machines (including AMD-powered machines). I’ve built a module for it.
AMD rival Nvidia offers similar software-based solutions for accelerating AI models. However, they are largely closed-source and proprietary, designed to run on the company’s own GPUs.
Prior to the AMD acquisition, Nod.ai had raised over $20 million in venture funding from Atlantic Bridge, Square Capital, Pointguard Ventures, Walden International and others. Alameda Research, a cryptocurrency company co-owned by disgraced entrepreneur and FTX co-founder Sam Bankman Fried, has reportedly participated in Nod.ai’s funding round. But in December, Elangovan told the Financial Times that Nod.ai:[wasn’t] Funder of FTX/Alameda. ”
“Nod.ai is a team of engineers focused on solving problems quickly, moving forward at pace in an ever-changing industry and solving the next problem,” said Elangovan, CEO of Nod.ai. We are developing solutions for this.” said in a press release. “Our journey as a company has cemented our role as a leading maintainer and major contributor to some of the world’s most important AI repositories. By partnering with AMD, we will be able to leverage this expertise. We will now reach a wider range of customers on a global scale.”
Nod.ai will join AMD’s AI group, which it created earlier this year and currently employs about 1,500 engineers. The group is expected to grow by about 300 employees by the end of the year as AMD races to catch up with Nvidia in the exploding market for AI chips.