US chipmaker AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) on Wednesday announced a definitive agreement to acquire Finnish start-up Silo AI, one of Europe’s leading artificial intelligence (AI) firms, in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $665 million.
This deal allows AMD to compete against industry leader Nvidia’s high-performance chips in the AI space.
The Californian company describes the acquisition of Silo AI as “a 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.
Acquiring Silo AI will help AMD accelerate the development and deployment of AMD-powered AI models and software solutions globally and help potential customers develop complex AI models with the company’s chips, AMD said.
“Across every industry, enterprises are looking for fast and effective ways to develop and deploy AI solutions for their unique business needs,” said Boppana.
“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.”
For those unaware, Silo AI specializes in end-to-end AI-driven solutions that help customers integrate AI quickly and easily into their products, services and operations. With operations in Europe and North America, the start-up has customers that include Allianz, Philips, Rolls-Royce and Unilever, among others.
In addition to its SiloGen model platform, Silo AI also creates state-of-the-art open source multilingual LLMs, such as Poro and Viking, on AMD platforms.
As a part of the deal, Peter Sarlin, Silo AI CEO and co-founder will continue to lead the Silo AI team as part of the AMD Artificial Intelligence Group, reporting to Vamsi Boppana, Senior Vice President (SVP) of AMD. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2024, subject to regulatory approval.
“At Silo AI, our mission from the start has been to build an AI flagship company. Today’s announcement is a logical next step in that pursuit as we join forces with AMD to shape the future of AI computing,” said Peter Sarlin, CEO and co-founder of Silo AI.
“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.”
The Silo AI acquisition marks the latest from AMD in a series of acquisitions and corporate investments aimed at expanding the AI ecosystem.
In the last 12 months, the company has invested more than $125 million across a dozen AI companies and also acquired AI software firms Mipsology and Nod.ai.
