Cerebras Systems has announced the signing of a deal worth around $100 million with G42, a technology group based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The agreement entails providing the initial installment of an artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputer, with the possibility of delivering up to nine more units, the company said in a statement on July 20.
Cerebras, headquartered in Silicon Valley, said G42 has committed to acquiring three of its Condor Galaxy systems, an innovative network comprising nine interconnected supercomputers. The first supercomputer in this network, known as Condor Galaxy 1 (CG-1), showcases a performance of 4 exaFLOPs and comprises 54 million cores.
These systems will be manufactured in the United States to expedite their deployment. The first system is scheduled to be operational this year, while the remaining two, CG-2 and CG-3, are expected to be online in early 2024, the company said.
This agreement emerges amid a global quest among cloud computing providers to find alternatives to Nvidia Corp’s chips, the current market leader in AI computing. Nvidia’s products are facing shortages due to the soaring demand for services like ChatGPT and others. In this context, Cerebras, along with several other startups, is striving to challenge Nvidia’s dominance in the AI computing sector.
According to Cerebras’ CEO, Andrew Feldman, discussions are underway for the potential acquisition of up to six more supercomputers by late 2024. Alongside G42, they aim to expand this supercomputer, with plans to establish 36 exaFLOPs of AI computing in the coming year.
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In the announcement, Feldman expressed his intention to relocate to the UAE for three months, collaborating closely with G42 to advance their computing service using the systems. He described this endeavor as a “rare opportunity to revolutionize a massive market.” G42, headquartered in Abu Dhabi, said it planned to leverage the Cerebras systems to offer AI computing services to healthcare and energy companies.
Cointelegraph reached out to Cerebras for more information on the terms of the deal and plans for the partnership in expanding the Condor Galaxy network and advancing AI projects but has not yet received a response.
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