The race to dethrone Nvidia as the leader in A.I. chips is heating up. The New York Times recently explored how companies like Amazon, AMD, and various start-ups are developing credible alternatives, particularly for tasks like “inferencing,” a phase of A.I. development where trained models perform tasks like chatbot responses or image recognition.

“For some crucial A.I. tasks, Nvidia’s rivals are proving they can deliver much faster speed, and at prices that are much lower,” said Daniel Newman, an analyst at Futurum Group. “That’s what everybody has known is possible, and now we’re starting to see it materialize.”

Amazon’s new chips, for example, are four times as fast as their predecessors and offer significant cost savings. AMD’s MI300 chips are expected to generate $5 billion in sales this year. While Nvidia is dominating for the time being, industry-leading chips like its new Blackwell series summarize the issue: they are cutting edge and expensive. Challengers are leveraging lower costs and specialized designs to gain ground. For many customers, price-performance is attractive selling point!

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