AMD launches new AI chips to take on leader Nvidia

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) unveiled its latest artificial intelligence processors on Monday and detailed its plan to develop artificial intelligence (AI) chips over the next two years in a bid to challenge industry leader Nvidia.

At the Computex technology trade show in Taipei, China's Taiwan, AMD CEO Lisa Su introduced the MI325X accelerator, which is set to be made available in the fourth quarter of 2024.

AMD shares added 1.4 percent, while Nvidia rose about 3 percent before the bell.

The race to develop generative AI programs has led to a towering demand for the advanced chips used in AI data centers able to support these complex applications.

AMD has been vying to compete against Nvidia, which currently dominates the lucrative market for AI semiconductors and commands about 80 percent of its share.

Since last year, Nvidia has made it clear to investors that it plans to shorten its release cycle to annually, and now AMD has followed suit.

"AI is clearly our number one priority as a company, and we have really harnessed all of the development capability within the company to do that," Su told reporters.

"This annual cadence is something that is there because the market requires newer products and newer capabilities ... Every year we have the next big thing such that we always have the most competitive portfolio."

AMD also introduced an upcoming series of chips titled MI350, which is expected to be available in 2025 and will be based on a new chip architecture.

Compared to the currently available MI300 series of AI chips, AMD said it expects the MI350 to perform 35 times better in inference – the process of computing generative AI responses. Additionally, AMD revealed the MI400 series, which will arrive in 2026 and be based on an architecture called "Next."