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Comment by formvoltron | Hacker News Reader

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formvoltron·

Aren't there startup contenders making more specialized AI hardware?

Doesn't Google mostly not rely on NVIDIA?

Are intel & amd really just sitting by and allowing nvidia to scoop this market?

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> Are intel & amd really just sitting by and allowing nvidia to scoop this market?

Yes, because unlike AMD and Intel, NVIDIA really is a software company with a hardware division, like Apple and Microsoft.

There are a bunch of companies doing that. Cerebras, Tenstorrent, Nuvia and so on. Hyperscalers like Google and Amazon also try to get on the game while the field is pretty new. But as as far as general purpose AI acceleration goes Nvidia has a massive headstart because they provided a rock solid software framework from the beginning, at a time AI wasn't having much reach beyond student projects. They captured the entire mindshare of academia and hobbyists.

I've tried to offer alternative options (Intel Gaudi, AMD, etc) to researchers here on campus. There is zero interest.

NVIDIA has the software aspect which leaves them leagues ahead, but AMD is trying to play catchup.

Yes, but hardware is hard. Reliably building up to enough volume to put a dent in Nvidia sales is extremely hard and independent of designing the successful product, tying it to current software APIs and convincing users. I am not surprised that a new company, however talented, cannot crack that nut. My 2c.

The velocity at which the field is moving dictates that you must not wait for AMD and Intel to catch up with a working and performant implementation, even if the TOPS per dollar are somewhat better on paper.

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