The AI hardware market may soon have more choices thanks to AMD’s latest move. On June 5, AMD announced that it had acquired Brium, a small but promising AI software startup. The deal’s financial details were not revealed, but it signals a big shift in AMD’s plans to challenge Nvidia’s grip on the AI sector.
Brium is not a well-known name yet, as it’s been operating in stealth mode. However, its work is important. The company builds software tools to help artificial intelligence systems—especially those used in servers and data centres—work on various hardware. AI software built for Nvidia chips could be adapted to run on AMD or other hardware instead.
This flexibility could help level the playing field. Nvidia’s hardware currently dominates the market because most AI models are explicitly designed to run on it, giving Nvidia a considerable advantage. However, with Brium’s technology, AMD could help developers run AI tools on Instinct GPUs and other non-Nvidia systems.
Helping developers unlock more choice
In a press release, AMD said that Brium will support its mission to “build a high-performance, open AI software ecosystem that empowers developers and drives innovation.” You may hear phrases like “open ecosystem” quite a lot, and in this case, it means AMD wants to make AI software work easily on more kinds of chips—not just Nvidia’s.
This would make things easier for developers like you, giving you more freedom to choose the hardware that fits your needs and budget. Many developers today stick with Nvidia because switching to other chips often requires a lot of extra time and effort. Brium’s tools could make that transition simpler and smoother.
Brium itself has only posted one blog update so far, back in November 2024. But it made its message clear. The post said: “In recent years, the hardware industry has made strides towards providing viable alternatives to Nvidia hardware for server-side inference. Solutions such as AMD’s Instinct GPUs offer strong performance characteristics. Still, harnessing that performance in practice remains challenging as workloads are typically tuned extensively with Nvidia GPUs in mind.”
The post said that Brium aims to enable smooth and efficient AI performance across many types of hardware. If you’re in machine learning, this shift could make your work more flexible and accessible.
Another step in AMD’s AI journey
This marks AMD’s fourth major AI-related acquisition in two years. The company seems determined to grow its AI presence and reduce Nvidia’s lead. In July 2024, AMD bought Silo AI, a European AI lab. Before that, it acquired Nod.AI in October 2023 and Mipsology in August 2023. Each company brings different strengths to AMD’s AI strategy, helping it compete on more than just hardware.
For now, you won’t see instant changes. But with Brium’s help, AMD is preparing for a bigger role in the AI world. If it succeeds, you’ll likely have more hardware options and better software support when developing AI applications.
Whether you’re building AI models or following tech news, this is one development to watch.
