AMD’s acquisition spree continues with $665 million deal for Silo AI

AMD has confirmed plans to acquire Finnish company Silo AI in a deal valued at $665 million. 

Based in Helsinki, Silo AI provides end-to-end AI solutions that enable enterprises to easily integrate the technology within products, services, and operations. The company works with clients spanning a host of industries, including Philips, Rolls-Royce, Unilever, and Allianz.

The firm’s open source large language models (LLMs), including Poro and Viking, are multilingual and created on AMD platforms alongside its internal SiloGen model platform.

As part of the deal, Silo AI chief executive and co-founder, Peter Sarlin, will continue to lead the company as part of AMD’s Artificial Intelligence Group. In his new role, Sarlin will report to AMD senior VP Vamsi Boppana.

“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,” Sarlin said.

“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.”

AMD's acquisition spree is underpinning its AI strategy

AMD said the agreement represents “another significant step in the company’s strategy to provide customers with end-to-end AI solutions based on open standards”. 

Incorporating Silo AI’s team within its AI Intelligence Group will enable the firm to bolster the development of tailored AI models, platforms, and solutions, Boppana said.

“Across every industry, enterprises are looking for fast and effective ways to develop and deploy AI solutions for their unique business needs,” he commented.

“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.”

The deal also marks the latest in a slew of acquisitions and major investments by AMD to support its global AI strategy. In the last 12 months, the company has invested over $125 million in a dozen AI companies to further accelerate its end-to-end solutions portfolio.

In August 2023, AMD announced plans to acquire the French AI firm and long-standing partner, Mipsology. Speaking at the time, Boppana said the deal would enable the company to improve inference capabilities and further expand its AI software development capabilities.

News of this acquisition was followed by another deal to purchase open source AI software firm, Nod.ai, in October last year. In a statement at the time, the company said the deal would enable it to accelerate the development and deployment of AI solutions.

This particular acquisition marked a significant step for AMD in its continuing rivalry with Nvidia.

Nvidia offers similar software solutions aimed at accelerating the development of AI models. These, however, remain largely closed-source and are designed specifically to work with the chip giant’s own GPUs.

By contrast, AMD said at the time the deal “strongly aligns” with its current strategy of building out an “open software ecosystem that lowers the barriers of entry” for enterprises.