The Tesla-AMD-Global Floundries Deal: What We Know And Don't Know (Yet)

[Guest]

Some media outlets are reporting that GlobalFoundries is working with Tesla on AI technology for its cars.

The Tesla-AMD-Global Floundries Deal: What We Know And Don't Know (Yet) : Read more

 

[jasonelmore]

Pretty dumb not to go with Nvidia on this.. I understand them wanting to vertically integrate but Nvidia is 5 years ahead of everyone else in compute and machine learning hardware.

 

[AlistairAB]

That's a typical exaggeration, they have a year's head start that's all. And google and apple and huawei all have dedicated inferencing chips already being made.

 

[Mousemonkey]

That's a typical exaggeration, they have a year's head start that's all. And google and apple and huawei all have dedicated inferencing chips already being made.

Only a year? So how comes there is a video on it from two years ago?
[video="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eBpjEdgSm0"][/video]

 

[Fluffy_Hedgehog]

NVidia is not 5 years ahead. Google has been using their own designs for years now, they just did it quietly and only now opened up their hardware to third party users. Their performance for AI is at least equal to the NVidia offers.

Microsoft is using custom designs too but they are even more secretive about it so it's next to impossible to get solid information on what exactly is going on there and how they perform.

If you just look at compute (16 and more importantly 8 bit for ai) performance even amd is entering with specialized chips derived from their gpu devision and while their gpu's are less than stellar for gaming, their chip-design is more than a match to NVidia in raw compute, which is where it counts for AI.

NVidia was the one on the marketing drum the most, pushing products to the open market, but they are not ahead technology wise in any significant way compared to the other players, they are just louder (as usual).

 

[Mousemonkey]

NVidia is not 5 years ahead. Google has been using their own designs for years now, they just did it quietly and only now opened up their hardware to third party users. Their performance for AI is at least equal to the NVidia offers.

Microsoft is using custom designs too but they are even more secretive about it so it's next to impossible to get solid information on what exactly is going on there and how they perform.

If you just look at compute (16 and more importantly 8 bit for ai) performance even amd is entering with specialized chips derived from their gpu devision and while their gpu's are less than stellar for gaming, their chip-design is more than a match to NVidia in raw compute, which is where it counts for AI.

NVidia was the one on the marketing drum the most, pushing products to the open market, but they are not ahead technology wise in any significant way compared to the other players, they are just louder (as usual).

The company ahead of the curve, however, is Nvidia, which is primarily known for producing chips behind video games. It has shifted its attention to cars, starting in 2007 when its systems powered the integration of Google Earth inside an Audi. Nvidia said its automotive unit posted 85 percent annual growth in sales for the last fiscal year. Several luxury carmakers use its supercomputers, which can take the reams of data coming from up to 12 cameras on a car, plus any Lidar and ultrasonic sensors, and make sense of it.

https://www.recode.net/2015/10/27/11620026/meet-the-companies-building-self-driving-cars-for-google-and-tesla

Seems that they may be more than five years ahead.

 

[xrodney]

The thing has Nvidia had headstart for last 5 years, but just in last 12 months, many companies started to catching up very quickly.

If you are a pioneer in some technology areas it takes time to develop, however, once new technology/business area is there, others can simply enter it, and if their area of expertise is in similar technology all of your headstart is down to almost nothing.

 

[mzarate]

Paul,

The remaining semi-custom design win has been in the making since 2014. I provided sources for this here:

Given that time frame, do you still think this could be related to to Tesla? 4 years feels like a long time, but perhaps not out of the question since it'd be a new market & product for AMD.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AMD_Stock/comments/6pjzo9/amd_vaults_10_ceo_su_says_expect_another/dkqk9tn/

 

[grimfox]

Curious. Is GLOFLO the correct abbreviation? Seems like GLOFO would make more sense. Or is it just a weird anarchism of abbreviations?

I could see why AMD is reticent to clarify their position with Tesla because it's probably given them a little boost in the market they wouldn't want to squash. Or perhaps they aren't talking because they are under NDA. I seem to recall them being cagey prior to the last console announcements where they had won the custom design.

 

[ryan.j.matheson]

Loved this article. All the financial news articles ate this news, spun it around, and the stock went nuts. Seeing the actual quote from the conference because Toms was actually there is way different then all the other reports and sheds light on the "real" situation. Nice reporting work Toms.