Research from Microsoft Azure and University of Texas reveals that multi-step AI workflows create performance bottlenecks between CPUs and GPUs that conventional inference infrastructure cannot handle efficiently, potentially requiring enterprise AI server redesign.
AMD announced the acquisition of Toronto-based AI chip startup Taalas for an undisclosed sum on August 6, 2026. Taalas specializes in etching AI model weights directly into silicon to enhance inference performance, part of AMD's strategy to challenge Nvidia's dominance in AI hardware.
AMD announced the acquisition of Toronto-based AI chip startup Taalas for an undisclosed sum on August 6, 2026. Taalas specializes in etching AI model weights directly into silicon to enhance inference performance, part of AMD's strategy to challenge Nvidia's dominance in AI hardware.
VAST Data announced an expanded collaboration with AMD to integrate its AI Operating System with AMD's 6th Gen EPYC CPUs, Instinct GPUs, and Pensando AI NICs, targeting AI cloud providers and enterprises building high-performance AI infrastructure for inference workloads.
Cognition released SWE-1.7, its most capable AI model to date, which the company says performs within a few points of leading frontier models while offering significantly reduced costs and 1000 tokens per second speed. The company reports continued gains from scaling reinforcement learning.
Etched, a startup developing specialized AI inference chips for Transformer models, announced it has secured $1 billion in contract orders and raised $800 million in funding, reaching a $5 billion valuation after TSMC successfully manufactured its Sohu chip.
OpenAI has reportedly developed a system-level optimization method that cuts the inference costs of running its AI models by approximately 50%, a breakthrough that could significantly improve the economics of operating large language models at scale.
Etched, a company designing chips specifically for running AI models, has raised $800 million from investors including Jane Street and TSMC-linked VentureTech Alliance, while announcing it has secured over $1 billion in signed customer contracts.
OpenAI announced its first custom-built AI inference processor called Jalapeño, designed in partnership with Broadcom and optimized for running large language models. The chip is expected to be deployed at scale by late 2026 to power ChatGPT and other AI products.
Rebellions, which designs chips specifically for AI inference, raised $400 million at a $2.3 billion valuation ahead of a planned IPO later this year, positioning itself as another challenger to Nvidia's dominance.
Google released TurboQuant, a compression algorithm that reduces large language model memory usage by at least 6x while improving performance, targeting AI inference cost reduction. The announcement caused significant market impact, with memory chip maker stocks reportedly declining.
