Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) unveiled its latest AI processors on Monday and outlined its ambitious plans to develop AI chips over the next two years, positioning itself to challenge industry leader Nvidia.
At the Computex technology trade show in Taipei, AMD CEO Lisa Su introduced the MI325X accelerator, slated for release in the fourth quarter of 2024. The surge in demand for advanced chips in AI data centers, driven by the race to develop generative AI programs, has created a fiercely competitive market.
AMD, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, is striving to compete with Nvidia, which dominates the AI semiconductor market with about 80% market share. Following Nvidia’s lead, AMD announced it will also shorten its product release cycle to an annual schedule.
“AI is clearly our number one priority as a company, and we have harnessed all of our development capabilities to focus on that,” Su told reporters. “This annual cadence is driven by market demand for newer products and capabilities. Each year, we aim to offer the next big thing to maintain the most competitive portfolio.”
In addition to the MI325X, AMD revealed the upcoming MI350 series, expected in 2025, featuring new chip architecture and boasting a 35-fold improvement in AI inference performance compared to the MI300 series. AMD also announced the MI400 series, which will be built on a new architecture called “Next” and will debut in 2026.
Investors, who have heavily backed the booming AI sector, are eagerly seeking long-term updates from chip manufacturers to assess the sustainability of the genAI rally. While AMD’s shares have more than doubled since early 2023, they still lag behind Nvidia’s seven-fold increase over the same period.
AMD aims to achieve an AI chip product cycle of one year, mirroring Nvidia’s strategy. In April, Su projected AI chip sales to reach approximately $4 billion in 2024, up $500 million from earlier estimates.
At Computex, AMD also announced that its latest generation of central processor units (CPUs) will be available in the second half of 2024. While businesses primarily invest in AI chips for data centers, some of AMD’s CPUs are used alongside graphics processor units (GPUs), though GPUs remain the priority.
AMD introduced its new neural processing units (NPUs) designed for handling on-device AI tasks in AI PCs. Chipmakers are betting on enhanced AI capabilities to revive growth in the struggling PC market.
PC manufacturers such as HP and Lenovo plan to release devices featuring AMD’s AI PC chips. AMD stated that its processors meet and exceed Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC requirements, indicating strong potential for widespread adoption.
