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AMD
plans to pay for 75% of the ZT Systems acquisition with cash and
the remainder in stock. The company had $5.34 billion in cash
and short-term investments as of the second quarter.
The computing requirements for AI have dictated that tech
companies string together thousands of chips in clusters to
achieve the necessary amount of data crunching horsepower.
Stringing together the vast numbers of chips has meant the
makeup of whole server systems has become increasingly
important, which is why AMD is acquiring ZT Systems.
AMD's shares climbed nearly 3% in premarket trading.
"AI systems are our number one strategic priority," AMD CEO Lisa
Su said in an interview with Reuters.
The addition of ZT Systems engineers will allow AMD to more
quickly test and roll out its latest AI graphics processing
units (GPUs) at the scale cloud computing giants such as
Microsoft require, Su said.
"The main way (ZT Systems) is additive to the company is we sell
more GPUs," Su said.
AMD plans to break off its server manufacturing business and
sell it once the deal closes, as it has no plans to compete with
companies such as Super Micro Computer, Su said.
AMD has not yet held talks with potential buyers.
ZT Systems Chief Executive Frank Zhang will join AMD and report
to AMD's data center chief, Forrest Norrod.
The closely held ZT Systems has roughly 2,500 employees of which
AMD plans to retain about 1,000 engineers. Currently ZT Systems
generates annual revenue of roughly $10 billion, Su said.
Executives expect the deal to close in the first half of 2025
and expect an additional 12 to 18 months to sell the
manufacturing business.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said at the company's developer
conference in March that the one-time chip designer now creates
and sells entire data centers, or the individual components
needed to build one. This year analysts expect the company to
generate $105.9 billion from its data center segment, which
includes chips and other AI hardware.
Su said last month the company expects to collect roughly $4.5
billion worth of AI chip revenue this year. The company's
customers include Microsoft and Meta Platforms.
AMD expects ZT Systems to contribute to the company's adjusted
financial performance by the end of 2025.
(Reporting by Max A. Cherney in San Francisco; Editing by Chris
Reese)
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