Meta buys RIVOS startup to reduce dependence on Nvidia

Meta intends to buy the RIVOS startup, which works in the design and manufacture of RISC-V chips. The purpose of this purchase is to strengthen the internal chip design teams and reduce the dependence on Nvidia chips.

According to Bloomberg, the agreement has not yet been publicly announced, but sources of the magazine have confirmed it. RIVOS is a start-up company that focuses on designing GPUs and artificial intelligence accelerators based on RISC-V opening. The company’s intellectual property includes SOCs and PCIE accelerators.

RIVOS enhances meta -dedicated chip design activities

Meta has been working on the development of its internal and custom artificial intelligence accelerators for many years, a project known as Meta Training and Inference Accelerator. The chips of this project are designed in collaboration with Broadcom and are probably based on RISC-V and are manufactured in TSMC chip factories. The accelerator has gone through a trial phase in March and is said to be used in meta datacenters with GPUs and accelerators of NVIDIA artificial intelligence.

It is unclear what the final agreement with RIVOS is. The startup has recently announced its value of $ 5 billion in a period of financing, which is likely to put its proposed price in a 2 to 4 -digit number.

RIVOS may also not accept integration into the Meta’s domestic development team. Meanwhile, Meta apparently pursues such a goal for its new purchases. Of course, the deal has not yet been finalized and the details may change or may not be done at all.

If Meta can buy RIVOS, the technology giant will be able to produce one of the most famous RISC-V chips that the world has ever seen. The RISC-V standard has not yet entered US datacenters. With the development of dedicated chips, Meta will have the opportunity to reduce its dependence on the Nvidia H200 chips. Openai has also launched a similar plan for proprietary design development, and the chip is expected to be unveiled in year 6.