AMD acquires open-source AI software pioneer Nod.ai to fortify AI capabilities

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) announced today plans to acquire Nod.ai, a startup that specializes in optimizing AI software for high-performance hardware.

The purchase of Nod.ai, founded just three years ago, shows that AMD is serious about staking a claim in the rapidly growing AI chip market, which is expected to reach $383.7 billion by 2032,  according to industry analysts. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

The agreement underscores AMD’s growth strategy in the AI sector, which is centered on an open software ecosystem that simplifies the adoption process for customers through developer tools, libraries, and models. This acquisition adds another feather to AMD’s cap as it continues its expansion into the rapidly evolving AI industry.

Strategic acquisition in of an open-source leader

Nod.ai is a startup that provides key enabling technologies for future AI systems using advanced compiler-based approaches, instead of legacy handwritten kernels.

The company created the SHARK Machine Learning Distribution, which is built on LLVM, MLIR, OpenXLA’s IREE and Nod.ai’s tuning. Nod.ai’s software can accelerate the deployment of AI models across a broad range of platforms powered by AMD’s architectures, such as Instinct data center accelerators, Ryzen AI processors, EPYC processors, Versal SoCs and Radeon GPUs.

The acquisition is expected to significantly enhance AMD’s ability to provide AI customers with open software that allows them to easily deploy highly performant AI models tuned for AMD hardware, according to Vamsi Boppana, senior vice president, Artificial Intelligence Group at AMD.

“The acquisition of Nod.ai is expected to significantly enhance our ability to provide AI customers with open software that allows them to easily deploy highly performant AI models tuned for AMD hardware,” he said in a statement.

AMD has been investing heavily in AI technologies in recent years , such as CDNA, XDNA, RDNA and Zen architectures, to compete with rivals like Nvidia and Intel in the fast-growing AI market. According to an industry report, the global AI market size is estimated to reach around $594 billion by 2032.

In addition to the technology, AMD said it aims to leverage the engineering talent from Nod.ai to boost its open-source developer cred. Nod.ai is a contributor to AI software repositories like SHARK and Torch-MLIR used by many researchers.