The AI world is paying rapt attention as Amazon puts up its dukes against Nvidia in the chip arena.
Driving the news: Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Amazon-owned Annapurna Labs are expected to make their Trainium 2 AI chip widely available next month. The chip is meant to cut AWS’s cloud computing costs, and challenge Nvidia’s industry-leading data centre GPUs.
- Companies like Deutsche Telekom and Anthropic are already testing the chips, and this week, AWS launched a grant program to get AI researchers to try them out.
Big picture: Other cloud giants are growing tired of ponying up to Nvidia and are working on their own custom chips designed to run and train AI models. Microsoft introduced its Maia chips a year ago, while Google’s high-powered Trillium chips are now available for preview.
Why it matters: Nvidia controls some 90% of the market for data centre GPUs, which just isn’t sustainable for the rapidly growing AI industry. Demand is already outpacing supply, and there needs to be more viable options in case Nvidia suffers a major supply bottleneck.
Bottom line: Chip consultant Patrick Moorhead told the Financial Times that “nobody is comfortable” with Nvidia’s outsized market share and that it “can’t last for long.”—QH