AMD Buys AI Chip Startup Taalas That Hardwires AI Models Into Its Silicon
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: On Thursday, AMD said it's entered into an agreement to acquire Taalas, a Toronto-based startup that makes chips for inference. Taalas' accelerators are customized, or hard-wired for a single AI model, rather than being general purpose. In exchange for that loss of flexibility, Taalas' technology promises a less-expensive chip that it says can…
AMD has acquired Taalas, a Toronto-based startup specializing in chips for AI inference, according to a report by CNBC. Taalas' accelerators are designed for a single AI model, making them customized or hard-wired rather than general-purpose. This specialization allows their technology to offer a more cost-effective solution that can deliver output for specific models at speeds thousands of times faster than traditional GPUs.
The specific purchase price of the deal was not disclosed. To date, Taalas has garnered $219 million in venture funding since its inception in 2023. Their latest chip is capable of running a compact version of Meta's Llama 3.1 model. However, Taalas is actively developing chips that can accommodate larger and more sophisticated models.
The company's chips utilize an older manufacturing process from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and incorporate fast SRAM memory directly on the chip itself. Taalas' CEO, Ljubisa Bajic, states on the company's website that they have developed a platform to convert any AI model into custom silicon. He elaborates that once a new model is received, it can be realized in hardware within a two-month timeframe.
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