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AMD to buy Silo AI for $665M

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41–50 of 284 posts

Re: AMD to buy Silo AI for $665M

#41
post #16
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, buying this company for 600m will fix everything.

That is the most sarcastic thing I have read in weeks. But isn't getting a software stack the exact kind of thing they need? Is there no overlap in the skills at the purchased company and the skills needed to make the AMD software stack not suck?

Sure, there is some overlap. Is that overlap worth 665M?

Re: AMD to buy Silo AI for $665M

#42
post #6
post #4

My cursory understanding is that Silo is a developer of LLMs that run on top of compute platforms. Isn't the problem with no one using AMD's accelerators the fact that their programming environment is sub-par compared to CUDA, or even Apple's?

Sure, buying this company for 600m will fix everything.

"fix"? What is there to fix? AMD has been simultaneously fighting Intel and Nvidia, two MUCH larger companies, and it's been winning the fight against Intel for close to a decade now.

It's certainly not Lisa Su's fault that the clowns over at Intel got stuck on variations of 14nm (with clever marketing names like 14nm+++++) for nearly a decade, but credit certainly is hers for introducing Zen and putting AMD back on top of the x86 market.

With the new x870(e) motherboards and Granite Ridge chips right around the corner, effortlessly destroying the pyrotechnic processing units known as Raptor Lake, it's honestly a miracle to me that Intel's stock price is still as high as it is.

Guess wall street still loves those billions of forcefully confiscated taxpayer dollars being doled out by Uncle Sam to a graying dinosaur like Intel who couldn't even compete without those handouts... the quality of their marketplace offerings certainly isn't what's keeping that valuation up!

Re: AMD to buy Silo AI for $665M

#43
post #20

Imagine AMD simply put that $665M into tooling and driver development. The stock probably would have doubled.

I always wonder about these thought experiments. Given a few good talented people and good management ... you'd think they'd be able to put a team together, but maybe talent in this area is few / far between? To be clear, i'm not disagreeing, I really don't know, but yeah $665M, could do a lot with that.

You are basically paying some premium for the fact that someone already did the hiring and built the talent pool and a cohesive team. Doing that from scratch is a multi-year project, so they basically bought a shortcut.

Re: AMD to buy Silo AI for $665M

#44

I've been thinking that NVDA stock is massively overpriced - yes, AI is a hot topic, but their only advantage is the software stack. It is just a matter of time until Intel and AMD realize that they should join hands and do an open-source CUDA alternative for their respecitve GPUs (yes, Intel has competetive GPUs and just like AMD and Nvidia they will try to get a share of the AI chip market share).

"just" a matter of time... If it were that easy, it would have already been done, or so they say. Also don't forget network effects

Re: AMD to buy Silo AI for $665M

#45

Looks like a consulting company[1] at first glance. Also, empty HuggingFace account[2]. [1]: https://www.silo.ai/ [2]: https://huggingface.co/SiloAI

Who is downvoting this? You are correct. Silo.AI is a consulting company with an LLM side hustle. This acquisition is weird.

Re: AMD to buy Silo AI for $665M

#46
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is the most sarcastic thing I have read in weeks. But isn't getting a software stack the exact kind of thing they need? Is there no overlap in the skills at the purchased company and the skills needed to make the AMD software stack not suck?

Sure, there is some overlap. Is that overlap worth 665M?

Yes, it brought instantly (at least partially) +12B USD on the valuation of AMD. This shows to investors that AMD is still in the race.

Re: AMD to buy Silo AI for $665M

#47
Happy to see this acquisition landing in Finland, but I have to wonder how the purchase price is justified. Silo AI is primarily a consulting company doing "traditional" kinds of AI consulting projects. Their LLM project is like a side hustle for the company.

Re: AMD to buy Silo AI for $665M

#48
post #10

Anyone know a timeline for AMD on MLPerf?

It won't be for a while. It really takes someone to focus on this and it isn't just AMD. The team at MLPerf will need to step in as well and from my discussions with them, they are busy enough as it is with their own goals.

My company, Hot Aisle, has a box of mi300x (soon to be +16 more) that we have dedicated as a free resource to unbiased benchmarking. That's instigated articles like the Chips & Cheese one and the Nscale Elio post...

https://chipsandcheese.com/2024/06/25/testing-amds-giant-mi3...

https://www.nscale.com/blog/nscale-benchmarks-amd-mi300x-gpu...

Re: AMD to buy Silo AI for $665M

#49

I've been thinking that NVDA stock is massively overpriced - yes, AI is a hot topic, but their only advantage is the software stack. It is just a matter of time until Intel and AMD realize that they should join hands and do an open-source CUDA alternative for their respecitve GPUs (yes, Intel has competetive GPUs and just like AMD and Nvidia they will try to get a share of the AI chip market share).

They've been working on that for years.

Re: AMD to buy Silo AI for $665M

#50
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, buying this company for 600m will fix everything.

"fix"? What is there to fix? AMD has been simultaneously fighting Intel and Nvidia, two MUCH larger companies, and it's been winning the fight against Intel for close to a decade now. It's certainly not Lisa Su's fault that the clowns over at Intel got stuck on variations of 14nm (with clever marketing names like 14nm+++++) for nearly a decade, but credit certainly is hers for introducing Zen and putting AMD back on…

I’m also bullish on Intel, but clearly not as much as you. Intel is transitioning right now. x86 is never going to reclaim the crown of most important architecture, so Intel is trying its best to become a foundry for all the fabless customers out there. It’s going to take a long while, but right now they’re the best company to compete with TSMC in ten years. If Apple uses their foundries next decade, you’ll know Intel is back on top.
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