According to PitchBook, Nod.ai, a startup based in Santa Clara, has raised approximately $36.5 million. The company has developed the SHARK Machine Learning Distribution, which is based on LLVM, MLIR, OpenXLA's IREE, and Nod.ai's tuning. Nod.ai's software can speed up the deployment of AI models across various systems using AMD's Instinct data center accelerators, Ryzen AI processors, EPYC processors, Versal SoCs, and Radeon GPUs.
Vamsi Boppana, SVP of the Artificial Intelligence Group at AMD, stated that the acquisition of Nod.ai is expected to significantly improve their ability to provide AI customers with open software that enables them to easily deploy high-performing AI models tuned for AMD hardware. He also mentioned that the addition of the talented Nod.ai team will accelerate their ability to advance open-source compiler technology and enable portable, high-performance AI solutions across the AMD product portfolio. Nod.ai's technologies are already widely used in the cloud, at the edge, and across a broad range of endpoint devices.
AMD's AI division has a team of 1,500 engineers who primarily focus on software development. With Nod.ai's software, AI models can be deployed faster across various systems that utilize AMD's Instinct data center accelerators, Ryzen AI processors, EPYC processors, Versal SoCs, and Radeon GPUs.