On November 11, semiconductor giant AMD announced the completion of its acquisition of MK1, an American AI inference startup. This deal marks AMD's further expansion in the AI field, aiming to enhance its capabilities in high-speed inference and enterprise-grade AI software stacks.
According to reports, MK1 is led by Paul Merolla, co-founder of Neuralink, whose team possesses deep technical expertise in AI inference technology. Merolla previously assisted in leading chip design efforts at Neuralink and developed algorithms capable of decoding brain activity. Other members of MK1 also come from renowned companies such as Neuralink, Meta, Tesla, and Apple. MK1's Flywheel technology is optimized for AMD hardware and currently processes over 1 trillion tokens daily.
Merolla stated that joining AMD is the right next step for MK1's technology and mission, as AMD's resources and platform will enable MK1 to achieve larger-scale deployment and development. MK1's technology is closely integrated with the memory architecture of AMD Instinct GPUs, delivering precise, cost-effective, and fully traceable inference capabilities.
This acquisition is one of the key initiatives for AMD to advance its broader AI strategy. Recently, AMD has been active in the AI field, continuously enhancing its software capabilities through multiple acquisitions. In August of last year, AMD spent $4.9 billion to acquire server manufacturer ZT Systems, accelerating the development of rack-level systems based on Instinct GPUs. In October of this year, AMD sold ZT Systems' manufacturing division to Sanmina for $3 billion, while retaining its design and support teams.
In addition, AMD has also invested $36 million in several other acquisitions this year, including the purchase of silicon photonics chip startup Enosemi, the employee team of Canadian AI inference chip startup Untether AI, and compiler startup Brium.
According to the latest financial report, AMD's revenue in the third quarter reached $9.25 billion, up 36% year-on-year, with a net profit of $1.2 billion, up 61% year-on-year. The company forecasts a mid-point revenue of $9.6 billion for the fourth quarter, exceeding market expectations. AMD also mentioned its collaboration with OpenAI for 600 gigawatts of computing power, with the deployment of the first 100 gigawatts of AMD Instinct MI450 GPUs set to begin in the second half of 2026. CEO Lisa Su revealed that AMD expects sufficient supply capacity in 2027 and 2028, with AI business revenue projected to reach tens of billions of dollars in 2027.
So far this year, AMD's stock price has doubled, reaching $243.98 per share, with a total market capitalization of $397.2 billion. AMD's sustained investment and strategic positioning in the AI sector are delivering significant market returns and growth potential.
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