AMD unveils Helios, a rack-scale AI system aiming to rival Nvidia, with Microsoft on board

AMD launches Helios, its first rack-scale AI system, a direct challenger to Nvidia's rack-scale GPUs, with Microsoft and Meta among early customers and commitments from OpenAI, Oracle and Tata; the system combines EPYC CPUs, Instinct GPUs and Pensando networking across 18 compute trays for efficient model inference at a lower total cost per token, with price estimates around $5–$5.5 million per rack and shipments starting later this year, signaling intensified competition in AI compute for data centers.