UAE’s G42 & Silicon Valley’s Cerebras Systems Sign $100 Million Deal

UAE-based technology group G42 has signed a deal with Silicon Valley’s Cerebras Systems to develop the first in a potential series of nine AI supercomputers.

The move follows a trend of cloud computing providers worldwide seeking alternatives to chips made by Nvidia Corp, the current market leader. Cerebras is one of many startups attempting to challenge Nvidia, whose supply is being overstretched due to the rise of ChatGPT and other such services. 

The success of the launch of Open AI’s ChatGPT last year has ignited a huge amount of attention and funding to the development of artificial intelligence. Cerebras stated that G42 will purchase three of its ‘Condor Galaxy’ systems, all of which will be built in the USA to accelerate their release. The first supercomputer will go live this year, and two more are expected to follow in early 2024. 

Cerebras CEO Andrew Feldman described the move as the first step in a “strategic partnership,” and  "a rare opportunity to change a massive market,” and revealed that his company is in further talks with the Abu Dhabi-based startup for up to six more supercomputers by the end of next year. 

“There is a big movement to close what has been open-sourced in AI…it’s not surprising as there’s now huge money in it,” Feldman tells StartupScene. “The excitement in the community, the progress we’ve made, has been in large part because it’s been so open.”

G42, which has raised $800 million from US tech investment firm Silver Lake, plans to use Cerebras’ systems to sell AI computing services to healthcare and energy companies.