AMD set to fuel growing demand for AI compute, says CTO Papermaster

Chipmaker AMD is poised to power the surging demand for AI compute with its wide range of product portfolio, the company's Chief Technology Officer Mark Papermaster said on Friday.

AI compute refers to processing of data using artificial intelligence or machine learning algorithms.

Marking 55 years of AMD (Advanced Micro Devices), Papermaster in a blog post looked back on five years of growth and innovations at the company, while also looking ahead to the next five years.

He said the future of technology will be born from open ecosystems and deep industry partnerships that drive true innovation.

"We're in a unique position to power increased demand for AI compute based on our broad portfolio of compute engines, deep relationships with customers across a diverse set of markets, and open software capabilities. We have a strong foundation of data centre products and customer collaboration across cloud and enterprise, and leadership products for AI PCs," he wrote.

He said AMD has shifted from unique product silos to a modular IP portfolio, connected by a single AI software stack for easy deployment, and called it a 'holistic design approach'.

"We need to speed our development by using more AI applications in our internal workflows to boost our productivity...We look forward to discovering new methods to optimise efficiency and experiment with new technologies that have potential," he said, adding that AI is poised to become more ubiquitous and consequential than the advent of the Internet.

Papermaster further said that AMD will make some 'exciting' announcements at Computex (Taipei), an annual computer exhibition set to be held in June this year.

Looking back, he said, "We made the call over a decade ago to leverage our strength and heritage in high-performance computing and invest for the future. Those bets have paid off as all our markets now demand the utmost in compute efficiency (performance per Watt of energy expended), and AI enablement.

"...Our growth hasn't come overnight. AMD technology powers the daily lives of billions of people around the world, and in the last five years we've expanded the number of markets we serve."

He said that the IT corporation has steadily increased investments in research and development for the past five years to be in line with the growing demand for compute performance and efficiency.

"...Our research and development investment has nearly quadrupled, from USD 1.5 billion in 2019, to USD 5.9 billion in 2023, and we plan to continue to invest in developing groundbreaking technologies that show early promise," he said.

He added that since 2019, AMD and the semiconductor industry have grown tremendously.

"Global sales of semiconductors grew from USD 412.3 billion in 2019 to USD 574.1 billion in 2022, and are estimated to grow to USD 1 trillion by 2030," he said, adding that AMD is positioned to service the insatiable demand for more computing capacity.

He said the company's headcount has more than doubled in the past five years.

"Xilinx was the largest semiconductor acquisition when completed in 2022 adding incredible talent, leadership IP, and market expansion to adaptive compute markets with deep customer relationships," he said.

Earlier this month, AMD posted its revenue at USD 5.47 billion (about Rs 45.6 crore) for the first quarter of 2024, up 2 per cent against the year-ago period.

"AMD started the year strong, delivering record quarterly data centre segment revenue," AMD's EVP, CFO and Treasurer Jean Hu had said. "In addition, we drove solid gross margin expansion. Moving forward, we are well positioned to continue driving revenue growth and margin improvement while investing in the large AI opportunities ahead.