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Governor Murphy on New Jersey’s work with AI
New Jersey will be “a catalyst that brings our best minds together to unleash groundbreaking AI-powered innovations.” – Governor Murphy at budget speech
Semiconductor maker Advanced Micro Devices is buying Secaucus-based server maker ZT Systems in a cash and stock deal valued at $4.9 billion.
The move is part of an attempt by AMD to acquire graphics card maker Nvidia and expand its portfolio of artificial intelligence hardware.
Under the plan, AMB will acquire 75 percent of ZT Systems in cash and the remaining 25 percent in stock, according to an announcement Monday, subject to an upfront payment of $400 million.
“Our acquisition of ZT Systems is the next major step in our long-term AI strategy,” said AMD Chairman and CEO Lusa Su.
According to Su, the Hudson County-based company has “expertise in world-class system design and rack-scale solutions that will significantly strengthen our data center AI systems and customer support capabilities.”
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Given the explosion of AI technology in recent years, the availability of these chips has become particularly important.
“AI chips are becoming faster and more efficient (that is, they can perform more calculations per unit of energy consumed) by integrating huge numbers of ever smaller transistors that run faster and consume less energy than larger transistors,” says a paper from Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology.
“But unlike CPUs, AI chips also have other, AI-optimized design features,” the post says. “These features dramatically accelerate the identical, predictable and independent computations required by AI algorithms.”
According to Bloomberg News, ZT had revenue of $10 billion last year, mostly from manufacturing, and had a 22 percent market share in servers with graphics chips.
Once the deal is completed – which is expected in the first half of 2025 – AMD will abandon and sell its own server manufacturing business to avoid competing with companies like Super Micro Computer, according to Reuters.
ZT currently employs 2,500 people, of whom 1,000 are engineers to be retained, Reuters reported.
Daniel Munoz covers business, consumer affairs, labor and the economy for NorthJersey.com and The Record.
E-mail: [email protected]; Twitter:@danielmunoz100 and Facebook
