The chip company AMD continues its strategic expansion in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and acquires the US firm ZT Systems, which specializes in data center technology. The purchase price is approximately 4.9 billion dollars (4.4 billion euros) and will be paid in a combination of cash and stock. The agreement also includes a performance-based payment of 400 million dollars.
The stock market responded positively to the takeover announcement. AMD shares rose by 4.52 percent to 155.28 US dollars on the NASDAQ technology exchange on Monday following the announcement.
With the acquisition of ZT Systems, AMD plans to strengthen its position in the field of AI and bring AI chip systems to customers' data centers faster. "This acquisition enables us to significantly accelerate the development and deployment of AI solutions for our customers," explained AMD CEO Lisa Su.
Currently, the AI hardware market is dominated by NVIDIA, which leads significantly with its chips for AI applications. While AMD expects revenue of around $4.5 billion this year for its new AI systems, analysts forecast NVIDIA's revenue for the current fiscal year to be around $100 billion. To catch up, AMD is pursuing a strategy similar to NVIDIA's and plans to offer both hardware and software for AI applications from a single source.
