Image: © Sundry Photography/Stock.adobe.com
CEO Dr Lisa Su said that buying ZT Systems marks the ‘next major step’ in AMD’s long-term AI strategy.
US semiconductor giant Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has agreed to acquire New Jersey-based ZT Systems for $4.9bn as it ramps up efforts to challenge Nvidia’s dominance in AI infrastructure.
ZT Systems creates servers and data centre infrastructure that help in the development of AI systems. AMD hopes the acquisition will complement its silicon and software capabilities.
The cash and stock deal includes a contingent payment of up to $400m based on certain post-closing milestones. AMD expects to complete the acquisition in the first half of 2025.
AMD chair and CEO Dr Lisa Su said that buying ZT Systems marks the “next major step” in the company’s long-term AI strategy to deliver leadership training and inferencing solutions.
“ZT adds world-class systems design and rack-scale solutions expertise that will significantly strengthen our data centre AI systems and customer enablement capabilities,” Su said. “This acquisition also builds on the investments we have made to accelerate our AI hardware and software roadmaps.”
The acquisition comes just a month after AMD acquired Silo AI, which claims to be the largest private AI lab in Europe, in a deal worth approximately $665m.
Based in Helsinki, Finland, Silo AI specialises in AI solutions that help customers integrate the emerging technology into their products, services and operations. It also creates open-source multilingual LLMs, such as Poro and Viking, on AMD platforms in addition to its SiloGen model platform.
AMD is one of the largest chipmakers in the US and a rival to the likes of Intel, IBM and Nvidia. It has seen profits surge of late thanks to the soaring global demand for AI chips. Other recent acquisitions include French AI software company Mipsology and US open-source software company Nod.ai.
Frank Zhang, CEO of ZT Systems, said that the latest deal will allow the company to play an even larger role “designing the AI infrastructure that is defining the future of computing”.
“For almost 30 years we have evolved our business to become a leading provider of critical computing and storage infrastructure for the world’s largest cloud companies,” Zhang said. “AMD shares our vision for the important role our technology and our people play designing and building the computing infrastructure powering the largest data centres in the world.”
Find out how emerging tech trends are transforming tomorrow with our new podcast, Future Human: The Series. Listen now on Spotify, on Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.
