Nvidia signs a multiyear deal with Thinking Machines Lab

Nvidia and Thinking Machines Lab said they have signed a multiyear partnership that will bring at least one gigawatt of next-generation Nvidia Vera Rubin systems to the startup’s AI work.

The companies said the systems will be used for frontier model training and for platforms built to deliver customizable AI at scale. They said deployment on the Vera Rubin platform is targeted for early next year.

The partnership also includes work on training and serving systems built for Nvidia architectures, along with a plan to expand access to frontier AI and open models for enterprises, research institutions, and the scientific community.

The deal comes with money too. Nvidia said it has made a significant investment in Thinking Machines Lab to support the company’s long-term growth.

Nvidia funds Thinking Machines as OpenAI pulls back former staff

Mira Murati’s startup is based in San Francisco and has been one of the most watched names in AI since it raised $2 billion last year at a $12 billion valuation.

The company also launched its first product, Tinker, last October. Now it has landed a major compute agreement while also dealing with a steady stream of staff departures back to rivals.

Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia, said, “AI is the most powerful knowledge discovery instrument in human history.

Thinking Machines has brought together a world-class team to advance the frontier of AI. We are thrilled to partner with Thinking Machines to realize their exciting vision for the future of AI.”

Mira herself said:-

“NVIDIA’s technology is the foundation on which the entire field is built. This partnership accelerates our capacity to build AI that people can shape and make their own, as it shapes human potential in turn.”

The companies framed the partnership around a simple goal. They said building AI systems that are understandable, customizable, and collaborative requires advances in research, design, and infrastructure at scale.

They said this agreement is meant to provide that base while pushing technology that expands human capability.

That announcement landed as Thinking Machines Lab keeps losing people. Another employee is rejoining OpenAI, adding to a broader run of departures from the $12 billion startup.

The latest person to return is Jolene Parish. Her LinkedIn profile says she joined Thinking Machines Lab in April last year. Before that, she spent three years at OpenAI. Earlier in her career, she worked for 10 years on security at Apple.

She is not the only one to leave. Last month, co-founders Barret Zoph and Luke Metz left the company. Researcher Sam Schoenholz also departed. Lia Guy, another researcher, also rejoined OpenAI, The Information reported. Another cofounder, Andrew Tulloch, left for Meta late last year, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Even with those exits, the company has still quietly hired Neal Wu, a coder who won three gold medals in a programming Olympiad. It also hired Soumith Chintala, the creator of the open-source AI project PyTorch at Meta, who now serves as Thinking Machines Lab’s CTO.

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