AMD To Acquire AI Lab, LLM Developer Silo AI For $665 Million

As part of its efforts to challenge Nvidia, the chip designer says its $665 million acquisition of European AI lab and open-source large language model developer Silo AI will help enterprises develop and deploy AI solutions faster and more effectively.

AMD has reached a deal to acquire Silo AI, which it called the largest private AI lab in Europe and a developer of open-source multilingual large language models.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip designer said on Wednesday that the all-cash transaction, which is valued at roughly $665 million, “represents another significant step in the company’s strategy to deliver end-to-end AI solutions based on open standards and in strong partnership with the global AI ecosystem.” The deal is expected to close later this year.

AMD announced the acquisition as it “dramatically” increases its investments in AI and releases accelerate chips at a faster cadence in the face of unrelenting generative AI innovation and Nvidia’s aggressive strategy that has allowed its rival to dominate the AI computing market, Forrest Norrod, AMD’s top data center executive, told CRN in a recent interview.

Peter Sarlin, Silo AI’s CEO and co-founder, will continue to lead the lab’s team and report to Vamsi Boppana, senior vice president of AMD’s Artificial Intelligence Group.

Boppana, who joined AMD via its Xilinx acquisition in 2022, said the Silo AI acquisition will help enterprises develop and deploy AI solutions faster and more effectively.

“Silo AI’s team of trusted AI experts and proven experience developing leadership AI models and solutions, including state-of-the-art LLMs built on AMD platforms, will further accelerate our AI strategy and advance the build-out and rapid implementation of AI solutions for our global customers,” he said in a statement.

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, Silo AI employs “world-class” AI scientists and engineers who have “extensive experience developing tailored AI models, platforms and solutions for leading enterprises spanning cloud, embedded and endpoint computing markets,” according to AMD.

Silo AI’s offerings are part of “end-to-end AI-driven solutions that help customers integrate AI quickly and easily into their products, services and operations,” and the company’s customers include major corporations like Allianz, Philips, Rolls-Royce and Unilever.

Part of the lab’s offerings are open-source multilingual large language models (LLMS) that run on AMD platforms as well as its own SiloGen model platform.

“We have a well-established history of building successful AI products and delivering value to our customers. We look forward to becoming part of AMD to further scale our impact and develop enterprise solutions and AI models that address the most complex challenges with deploying AI at scale today,” Sarlin said in a statement.

Silo AI is one of three AI-related acquisitions AMD has made in the past year. In addition to acquiring Mipsology and Nod.ai in 2023, the company said it has invested more than $125 million in a dozen AI startups to boost its AI strategy.