Silicon Valley-based Cerebras Systems has announced that it has signed an approximately $100 million deal to supply the first of three artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputers to the United Arab Emirates-based technology group G42. G42 has agreed to purchase three Condor Galaxy systems, all of which will be built in the U.S. to speed up the rollout. The first one will come online this year, with two more coming in early 2024.
The deal comes as cloud computing providers around the world are searching for alternatives to chips from Nvidia Corp, the market leader in AI computing whose products are in short supply, due to the surging popularity of ChatGPT and other services. Cerebras is one of several startups looking to challenge Nvidia.
Abu Dhabi-based G42, a tech conglomerate with nine operating companies that include datacenter and cloud service businesses has plans to use the Cerebras systems to sell AI computing services to healthcare and energy companies. G42 has raised $800 million from U.S. tech investment firm Silver Lake, which has backing from Mudabala, the UAE’s soverign wealth fund.