AMD works on AI chip debut by end of 2023 in China, to comply with export controls
AMD is preparing to ramp up production of its MI300 processor, plans to compete with Nvidia.
Highlights
- AMD is preparing to ramp up production of its MI300 processor, plans to compete with Nvidia.
- AMD exclusively comply with export restrictions on the Chinese market
In a move that would put AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) in line with rivals Nvidia and Intel, the America-based semiconductor manufacturer stated that it sees a chance to create an artificial intelligence processor exclusively for the Chinese market to comply with U.S. export restrictions.
Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, said on an earnings call late Tuesday that China is an important market and that the semiconductor giant wants to be fully compliant with U.S. export controls.
“As we think about certainly the accelerator market, our plan is to of course be fully compliant with U.S. export controls but we do believe there’s an opportunity to develop products for our customer set in China that is looking for AI solutions and we’ll continue to work in that direction,” Su said.
AMD plans big for China
The type of semiconductors needed to train massive volumes of data for artificial intelligence applications are called accelerator chips.
As a competitor to Nvidia's graphics processing units used for AI training, AMD is preparing to ramp up production of its MI300 processor. The market is dominated by Nvidia, but AMD hopes to compete with its newest chip.
The U.S. government has forbidden Nvidia from selling its A100 and H100 processors to China earlier this year. The H100 is one of Nvidia’s key AI chips. As per the information, Nvidia, later on, decided to modify the H100's specifications to produce a chip that conformed with export restrictions.
China continues to stay a major hotspot for chipmakers
For the Chinese market, Intel also produced a customised version of its Gaudi 2 AI chips.
Since there are few domestic competitors to companies like Nvidia in the field of artificial intelligence, China continues to be a lucrative market for American chipmakers.
Much depends on AMD's MI300 AI chip as it attempts to compete with Nvidia. For the remainder of the year, the company anticipates that the chip will help it expand its data center business quickly.
In the wake of this occasion, Su said AMD is looking at around 50 percent growth in the second half of the year versus the first half in its data center business, in part thanks to the new AI chip.
