Dell, Super Micro providing server racks for Elon Musk’s xAI’s supercomputer
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Mr Elon Musk told investors that xAI is planning to build a supercomputer to power the next version of its AI chatbot Grok.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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Bengaluru - Dell Technologies and Super Micro Computer will provide server racks for the supercomputer that Mr Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence (AI) start-up xAI is building.
Dell is assembling half of the racks for xAI’s supercomputer, Mr Musk said on X. In a reply to another post inquiring about the second partner, the billionaire said “SMC” – referring to server maker Super Micro.
San Francisco-based Super Micro, known for its close ties with chip companies like Nvidia and its liquid-cooling technology, confirmed the partnership with xAI to Reuters.
Dell chief executive Michael Dell also said in a separate post on X that the company was building an “AI factory” with AI heavyweight Nvidia that would power the next version of xAI’s chatbot Grok.
Mr Musk told investors xAI is planning to build a supercomputer
Training of AI models such as xAI’s Grok requires tens of thousands of power-hungry chips that are in short supply.
Earlier in 2024, Mr Musk said training the Grok 2 model took about 20,000 Nvidia H100 graphics processing units, adding that the Grok 3 model and beyond will require 100,000 Nvidia H100 chips.
Mr Musk said he wants to get the proposed supercomputer running by the fall of 2025, according to The Information.
Mr Musk founded xAI in 2023 as a challenger to Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Alphabet’s Google.
Mr Musk was instrumental to OpenAI’s founding but withdrew his support and warned of the dangers of AI to humanity. He launched its ChatGPT competitor Grok in November 2023 and raised US$6 billion (S$8 billion) in venture capital funding in May at a pre-money valuation of US$18 billion. REUTERS
