Oracle to deploy 50,000 AI chips from AMD
What's the story
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure has announced its plan to deploy a whopping 50,000 advanced graphics processors from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). The deployment is set to begin in the second half of 2026. This move marks a major shift in the cloud industry as companies are increasingly looking at AMD's GPUs as an alternative to NVIDIA's market-leading ones for artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
Market shift
Oracle's AMD bet
Karan Batta, the Senior Vice President of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, has expressed confidence in AMD's potential. He said, "We feel like customers are going to take up AMD very, very well — especially in the inferencing space."
Tech specs
AMD's new AI chips
The deployment by Oracle will be based on AMD's Instinct MI450 chips, which were unveiled earlier this year. These are the first AI chips from AMD that can be combined into a larger rack-sized system. This unique capability allows 72 of these chips to function as one, enabling the creation and deployment of cutting-edge AI algorithms.
Strategic partnerships
OpenAI's multi-year deal with AMD
Earlier this month, OpenAI announced a multi-year deal with AMD for processors needing 6GW of power. The first gigawatt is expected to be deployed in 2026. If all goes well, OpenAI could end up owning as much as 10% of AMD. In September, OpenAI also signed a five-year cloud deal with Oracle that could be worth up to $300 billion.
Chip diversity
Broadcom and OpenAI's chip plans
Despite its close ties with NVIDIA, which provided the chips to build ChatGPT, OpenAI is looking for computing power from multiple sources. The company even plans to design its own AI chips with Broadcom.