Kneron, an AI chip startup, launched its next-generation products on Wednesday to capitalize on business interest in AI and provide a competitive alternative to Nvidia and AMD.
The Taiwanese company, backed by US chipmaker Qualcomm and iPhone assembler Foxconn, unveiled the KNEO 330, its second-generation “edge GPT” server.
GPT, or generative pre-trained transformer, refers to AI algorithms trained on massive amounts of data that can generate text and images. Examples include OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
However, many businesses that want to use generative AI functions and apps today rely on cloud services provided by companies such as Microsoft and Amazon. These so-called “hyperscalers” purchase massive amounts of chips from companies such as Nvidia to train massive AI models in data centers that run complex servers.
Kneron believes that businesses will not always want to rely on these cloud giants for AI solutions.
KNEO 330 is designed for businesses that want to run AI applications on their own servers, rather than relying on servers owned by major cloud providers.
“We find a strong market need in big high-tech companies, medical centers, or financial institutions, they care about their privacy,” Albert Liu, CEO of Kneron, told CNBC ahead of the product launch. “They don’t want to upload that to OpenAI.”
Liu believes that businesses may not want to give their data to a third party in order to use AI tools. Instead, Kneron’s technology allows businesses to create their own AI applications using the company’s on-premise servers.
Kneron’s launch comes just days after both Nvidia and AMD unveiled their latest AI chips, with both appearing to accelerate the pace of release. Nvidia and AMD’s products are aimed at massive data centers from tech giants capable of training massive AI models.
On Wednesday, Kneron also announced that its latest KL830 processor chip would be used in a new PC. This presents a challenge to companies like Intel and AMD that manufacture PC chips. The KL830 enables the PC to run AI applications on the device rather than connecting to the internet. The idea is that by not connecting data to the internet, privacy will be improved.
Qualcomm-backed firm launches latest AI chips — posing a challenge to giants like Nvidia
