Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) has announced a landmark agreement to acquire ZT Systems, a provider of AI and compute infrastructure for hyperscalers, in a deal valued at £4.9 billion.
The acquisition will bolster AMD’s capabilities in data centre AI systems, and position the company to more effectively compete in the expanding market for AI accelerators.
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The transaction, which includes a cash and stock component along with a contingent payment of up to £320 million based on post-closing performance milestones, is expected to be accretive to AMD’s non-GAAP earnings by the end of 2025.
Dr. Lisa Su, AMD’s chair and CEO, commented on the acquisition: “The purchase of ZT Systems represents a pivotal step in our long-term strategy to provide leading-edge AI training and inference solutions.
“ZT Systems brings exceptional design and integration capabilities, which will greatly augment our data centre AI systems and enhance our ability to deploy solutions at scale across both cloud and enterprise environments. Combining ZT’s expertise with our high-performance Instinct AI accelerators and EPYC CPUs will enable us to deliver comprehensive, end-to-end AI infrastructure in partnership with our OEM and ODM partners.”
Headquartered in Secaucus, New Jersey, ZT Systems boasts over 15 years of experience in designing and deploying data centre AI compute and storage infrastructure for cloud providers.
Frank Zhang, CEO of ZT Systems, commented on the deal: “We are excited to join AMD and play an even larger role in designing the AI infrastructure that is defining the future of computing. For nearly 30 years, we have evolved our business to become a leading provider of critical computing and storage infrastructure for the world’s largest cloud companies.
“AMD shares our vision for the important role our technology and our people play in building the computing infrastructure powering the largest data centres in the world.”
Upon completion of the transaction, ZT Systems will join AMD’s Data Centre Solutions Business Group. ZT CEO Frank Zhang will oversee the manufacturing business, while ZT president Doug Huang will lead the design and customer enablement teams, both reporting to AMD executive vice president and general manager Forrest Norrod.
AMD has invested more than £1 billion to expand its AI ecosystem and strengthen its AI software capabilities. Only last month they secured the buy out of Silo AI for $665 million.
The transaction has been unanimously approved by the AMD Board of Directors and is expected to close in the first half of 2025, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
We reported in June that AMD has launched its latest AI chipsets.
