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Taking on its closest rival Nvidia while significantly expanding its data centre capabilities, chip giant AMD on Monday said it is acquiring ZT Systems, a provider of AI infrastructure for the hyperscale computing companies, in a cash and stock transaction valued at $4.9 billion. 

The strategic transaction includes a contingent payment of up to $400 million based on certain post-closing milestones.

AMD said in a statement that it expects the transaction to be “accretive on a non-GAAP basis by the end of 2025”.

The acquisition of the New Jersey-headquartered ZT Systems will help cloud and enterprise customers significantly accelerate the deployment of AMD-powered AI infrastructure at scale.

“Our acquisition of ZT Systems is the next major step in our long-term AI strategy to deliver leadership training and inferencing solutions that can be rapidly deployed at scale across cloud and enterprise customers,” said Dr Lisa Su, AMD Chair and CEO.

AMD said that it will seek a strategic partner to acquire ZT Systems’ industry-leading US-based data centre infrastructure manufacturing business.

The acquisition also builds on the investments the company has made to accelerate its AI hardware and software roadmaps.

Frank Zhang, CEO of ZT Systems, said that for almost 30 years, “we have evolved our business to become a leading provider of critical computing and storage infrastructure for the world’s largest cloud companies”.

Post-transaction closing, ZT Systems will join the AMD Data Center Solutions Business Group.

ZT CEO Frank Zhang will lead the manufacturing business and ZT President Doug Huang will lead the design and customer enablement teams, reporting to AMD Executive Vice President and General Manager, Forrest Norrod.

In the last 12 months, in addition to increasing organic research and development activities, AMD has invested more than $1 billion to expand its AI ecosystem and strengthen the company’s AI software capabilities.