AMD to acquire Silo AI for USD $665 million in AI expansion

AMD has announced its intention to acquire Silo AI, Europe's largest private artificial intelligence (AI) lab, for approximately USD $665 million. The acquisition is part of AMD's broader strategy to deliver comprehensive AI solutions based on open standards.

The signing of this definitive agreement is described by AMD as a significant move in the rapid implementation of AI solutions for diverse industries. Silo AI, headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, operates across Europe and North America and consists of a team of renowned AI scientists and engineers. The lab focuses on developing end-to-end AI-driven solutions to help businesses integrate AI into their services seamlessly.

Silo AI's CEO and co-founder, Peter Sarlin, is set to lead the Silo AI team within the AMD Artificial Intelligence Group, reporting directly to AMD senior vice president Vamsi Boppana. The acquisition is anticipated to be finalised in the second half of 2024.

Commenting on the acquisition, Vamsi Boppana stated, "Across every industry, enterprises are looking for fast and effective ways to develop and deploy AI solutions for their unique business needs. Silo AI’s team of trusted AI experts and proven experience in developing leadership AI models and solutions, including state-of-the-art large language models (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."

Silo AI has a strong track record of creating advanced open-source multilingual LLMs, such as Poro and Viking, using AMD platforms. Additionally, the company has its own SiloGen model platform. These assets and expertise are expected to enhance AMD’s capabilities in the AI domain.

Pete Sarlin expressed enthusiasm for the acquisition, stating, "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. 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."

Notably, Silo AI has engaged in significant collaborations with industry leaders such as Allianz, Philips, Rolls-Royce, and Unilever, demonstrating its capability to innovate across various sectors. The company has also trained AI models on LUMI, Europe’s fastest supercomputer powered by over 12,000 AMD Instinct MI250X GPUs.

Dr. Pekka Manninen, Director of Science and Technology at CSC-IT Center for Science in Finland, commented on the collaboration, noting, "Silo AI has been a pioneer in scaling large language model training on LUMI. Together with university collaborators, they have trained state-of-the-art open-source models for EU languages. We have collaborated extensively with the team in optimising the software layer, allowing for efficient training of AI models on LUMI."

AMD’s acquisition of Silo AI follows a series of investments in the AI sector, including the acquisitions of Mipsology and Nod.ai in 2023. Over the past 12 months, AMD has invested over USD $125 million across a dozen AI companies to bolster its AI strategy and expand its ecosystem.

Nishant Batra, Chief Strategy and Technology Officer at Nokia, also reflected on the acquisition, saying, "As a leading European AI company, Silo AI has been a great long-term partner for us in many AI-related projects. We look forward to the enhanced capabilities the combination of AI technologies and innovative compute solutions from AMD will bring."