• AMD's MI350, MI400 AI chips challenge Nvidia’s Blackwell, target 2026 release.
• OpenAI collaborates on MI450, joined by xAI, Meta, Oracle, for AMD chips.
• Helios server with 72 MI400 chips competes with Nvidia’s Nvl72, uses open design.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) CEO Lisa Su introduced the MI350 and MI400 series AI chips, positioning them as direct competitors to Nvidia’s Blackwell processors. The MI400 series will power a new AI server, dubbed "Helios," set for release in 2026, as AMD intensifies its efforts to capture a share of the booming AI chip market dominated by Nvidia.

The Helios server, which has 72 MI400 chips, is aimed at competing with the NVL72 servers of Nvidia. AMD also favored an open design, unlike the Nvidia-only NVLink technology, and offered networking standards even to rivals such as Intel. “The future of AI is not going to be built by any one company or in a closed ecosystem. It’s going to be shaped by open collaboration across the industry,” Su stated, taking a swipe at Nvidia’s closed system.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman joined Su onstage, revealing that his organization is collaborating with AMD on the MI450 chips to enhance their AI capabilities. “Our infrastructure ramp-up over the last year, and what we’re looking at over the next year, have just been a crazy, crazy thing to watch,” Altman said. Other industry leaders, including executives from xAI, Meta Platforms, and Oracle, highlighted their use of AMD processors, while cloud provider Crusoe announced plans to purchase $400 million worth of AMD’s new chips.

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The roadmap provided by AMD follows the release strategy of Nvidia, where Su once again confirmed the yearly product release schedule of the company. In support of its AI strategy, recently in March, AMD acquired server builder ZT Systems and has also made 25 strategic investments in the last year, such as recruiting employees of startups like Untether AI and Lamini. The efforts are intended to beef up AMD chip design and software, specifically its ROCm platform, which trails the popular Nvidia CUDA software.

Despite these efforts, AMD shares closed 2.2% lower following the announcement. The new chips are unlikely to immediately shift AMD’s competitive position against Nvidia. However, AMD remains optimistic, projecting strong double-digit growth in AI chip sales despite export restrictions to China, as Su mentioned during the company’s May earnings report.