عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Technology

AMD Launches New AI Chips to Take on Leader Nvidia 

Lisa Su, chairwoman and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), delivers the opening keynote speech at Computex 2024, Taiwan's premier tech expo, in Taipei on June 3, 2024. (AFP)
Lisa Su, chairwoman and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), delivers the opening keynote speech at Computex 2024, Taiwan's premier tech expo, in Taipei on June 3, 2024. (AFP)
TT
TT

AMD Launches New AI Chips to Take on Leader Nvidia 

Lisa Su, chairwoman and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), delivers the opening keynote speech at Computex 2024, Taiwan's premier tech expo, in Taipei on June 3, 2024. (AFP)
Lisa Su, chairwoman and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), delivers the opening keynote speech at Computex 2024, Taiwan's premier tech expo, in Taipei on June 3, 2024. (AFP)

Advanced Micro Devices unveiled its latest artificial intelligence processors on Monday and detailed its plan to develop AI chips over the next two years in a bid to challenge industry leader Nvidia.

At the Computex technology trade show in Taipei, AMD CEO Lisa Su introduced the MI325X accelerator, which is set to be made available in the fourth quarter of 2024.

The race to develop generative artificial intelligence programs has led to towering demand for the advanced chips used in AI data centers able to support these complex applications.

Santa Clara, California-based AMD has been vying to compete against Nvidia, which currently dominates the lucrative market for AI semiconductors and commands about 80% of its share.

Since last year, Nvidia has made it clear to investors that it plans to shorten its release cycle to annually, and now AMD has followed suit.

"AI is clearly our number one priority as a company and we have really harnessed all of the development capability within the company to do that," Su told reporters.

"This annual cadence is something that is there because the market requires newer products and newer capabilities... Every year we have the next big thing such that we always have the most competitive portfolio."

AMD also introduced an upcoming series of chips titled MI350, which is expected to be available in 2025 and will be based on new chip architecture.

Compared to the currently available MI300 series of AI chips, AMD said it expects the MI350 to perform 35 times better in inference - the process of computing generative AI responses. Additionally, AMD revealed the MI400 series, which will arrive in 2026 and will be based on an architecture called "Next".

Investors who have poured billions of dollars into Wall Street's picks-and-shovels trade have been seeking longer-term updates from chip firms, as they evaluate the longevity of the booming genAI rally, which so far has shown no signs of slowing down.

AMD's shares have more than doubled since the start of 2023. This surge still pales in comparison to the more than seven-fold rise in Nvidia's shares in the same time period.

AMD is aiming at an AI chip product cycle of one year. Similarly, Nvidia said it plans to release a new family of AI chips every year.

AMD's Su said in April that the company expects AI chip sales of roughly $4 billion for 2024, an increase of $500 million from its prior estimate.

At the Computex event, AMD also said its latest generation of central processor units (CPUs) will likely be available in the second half of 2024.

While businesses generally prioritize spending on AI chips in data centers, some of AMD's CPUs are used in conjunction with graphics processor units, though the ratio is skewed in favor of GPUs.

AMD detailed architecture for its new neural processing units (NPUs), which are dedicated to handling on-device AI tasks in AI PCs.

Chipmakers have been banking on added AI capabilities to drive growth in the PC market as it emerges from a years-long slump.

PC providers such as HP and Lenovo will release devices which include AMD's AI PC chips. AMD said its processors exceed Microsoft's Copilot+ PC requirements.

Most Viewed

 
 
Technology

Blogs to Bluesky: Social Media Shifts Responses after 2004 Tsunami

Teuku Hafid Hududillah, 28, an Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) officer, shows the seismograph system that recorded the 9.1 magnitude quake on the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, at the monitoring station in Aceh Besar, Aceh, Indonesia, December 23, 2024. (Reuters)
Teuku Hafid Hududillah, 28, an Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) officer, shows the seismograph system that recorded the 9.1 magnitude quake on the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, at the monitoring station in Aceh Besar, Aceh, Indonesia, December 23, 2024. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Blogs to Bluesky: Social Media Shifts Responses after 2004 Tsunami

Teuku Hafid Hududillah, 28, an Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) officer, shows the seismograph system that recorded the 9.1 magnitude quake on the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, at the monitoring station in Aceh Besar, Aceh, Indonesia, December 23, 2024. (Reuters)
Teuku Hafid Hududillah, 28, an Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) officer, shows the seismograph system that recorded the 9.1 magnitude quake on the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, at the monitoring station in Aceh Besar, Aceh, Indonesia, December 23, 2024. (Reuters)

The world's deadliest tsunami hit nations around the Indian Ocean two decades ago before social media platforms flourished, but they have since transformed how we understand and respond to disasters -- from finding the missing to swift crowdfunding.

When a 9.1-magnitude quake caused a tsunami that smashed into coastal areas on December 26, 2004, killing more than 220,000 people, broadcasters, newspapers and wire agencies were the main media bringing news of the calamity to the world.

Yet in some places, the sheer scale took days to emerge.

Survivor Mark Oberle was holidaying in Thailand's Phuket when the giant waves hit Patong beach, and penned a blog post to fend off questions from family, friends and strangers in the days after the disaster.

"The first hints of the extent were from European visitors who got text messages from friends back home," said Oberle, adding people initially thought the quake was local and small, when its epicenter was actually near western Indonesia, hundreds of miles away.

"I wrote the blog because there were so many friends and family who wanted to know more. Plus, I was getting many queries from strangers. People were desperate for good news tales," said the US-based physician, who helped the injured.

The blog included images of cars ploughed into hotels, water-filled roads and locals fleeing on scooters because rumors produced "a stampede from the beach to higher ground".

Bloggers were named "People of the Year" by ABC News in 2004 because of the intimacy of first-hand accounts like those published in the days following the tsunami.

But today billions can follow major events in real-time on social media, enabling citizen journalism and assistance from afar, despite the real risk of rumor and misinformation.

During Spain's worst floods for decades in October, people voluntarily managed social media accounts to assist relatives trying to locate their missing loved ones.

After Türkiye's devastating earthquake last year, a 20-year-old student was rescued thanks to a post of his location while buried under the rubble.

- 'Fast picture' -

Two decades ago, the online social media landscape was vastly different.

Facebook was launched early in 2004 but was not yet widely used when the tsunami hit.

One of YouTube's founders reportedly said an inspiration for the platform's founding in early 2005 was an inability to find footage of the tsunami in its aftermath.

Some tsunami images were posted on photo site Flickr. But X, Instagram and Bluesky now allow for instant sharing.

Experts are clear that more information saves lives -- hours lapsed between the tremor's epicenter near Indonesia and the giant waves that crashed into Sri Lanka, India and Thailand's coastal areas.

Daniel Aldrich, a professor at Northeastern University, conducted interviews in India's Tamil Nadu where many said they had no idea what a tsunami was and had no warnings in 2004.

"In India alone nearly 6,000 people were taken by surprise and drowned in that event," he said.

Mobile apps and online accounts now quickly publicize information about hospitals, evacuation routes or shelters.

"Social media would have provided an immediate way to help locate other survivors and get information," said Jeffrey Blevins, head of journalism at the University of Cincinnati.

Oberle also noted that "knowing what help was locally available... would have provided a clearer perspective of what to expect in the days to come".

- Citizen science -

Beyond emergency rescue, social media clips can also be a boon to understanding a disaster's cause.

When giant waves crashed into Indonesia's Aceh province, footage remained largely confined to handheld camcorders capturing the carnage.

Fast forward to 2018, when a quake-tsunami hit Indonesia's Palu city, killing more than 4,000 people, enough videos were taken on smartphones that scientists researching seismic activity were later able to use the clips to reconstruct its path and time between waves.

The piece of citizen science in 2020 used amateur videos to conclude it happened so fast because of underwater landslides close to shore.

But it's not all good news.

Scholars warn that disinformation and rumors have also hindered disaster responses.

When Hurricane Helene struck North Carolina in September, relief efforts were disrupted as tensions between locals and emergency workers rose over unfounded rumors including a higher hidden death toll and diverted aid.

Workers faced reported threats from local armed militias.

"This information was so malicious that FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) had to withdraw its teams from the area," said Aldrich.

"Social media has absolutely altered the field of disaster response for the good and the bad."

Yet perhaps the biggest change -- the free flow of information to the vulnerable -- has been beneficial.

Laura Kong of the Honolulu-based International Tsunami Information Center recently recalls how "2004 was such a tragedy".

"Because... we might have known there was an event, but we didn't have a way to tell anyone."