Cloud providers can’t keep up with demand for AI hardware

AI devs are being stymied by an industry-wide shortage of GPU capacity at server farms, The Information reported, with Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Google, and Oracle all limiting access.

AI development is heavily dependent on graphics processing units (GPUs), which offer parallel processing that helps power through machine learning workloads at greatly accelerated rates. Chipmaker Nvidia, which historically specialized in GPUs for gamers, is now the dominant player in manufacturing them for server farms.

AI development is heavily dependent on graphics processing units (GPUs), which offer parallel processing that helps power through machine learning workloads at greatly accelerated rates. Chipmaker Nvidia, which historically specialized in GPUs for gamers, is now the dominant player in manufacturing them for server farms.

According to The Information, current shortages may be driven not by supply-chain issues, but by chipmakers not having anticipated the gold rush on AI development. Erik Dunteman, CEO of GPU server startup Banana, told the site that the situation is exacerbated by large cloud providers’ practice of renting the servers out on an always-on basis. This ensures access to customers, but means many GPU servers are sitting idle during client downtime.