As humanity enters a new era of disruptive technology, we ask the question: What is the key infrastructure that will empower the artificial intelligence and machine learning revolution?
Written by GMI Cloud CEO Alex Yeh
Revolutions Require Rails
I’ve been able to study closely both in my personal and professional life how infrastructure allows revolutionary new technology to grow and eventually shape society. It’s railways that made trains possible, grid systems that made electricity ubiquitous, and communication networks that have made phone and internet services accessible almost anywhere.
With the rise of artificial intelligence, companies all over the globe are currently rushing to implement machine learning and AI to create new businesses, develop new models, extract value from data sets, and so much more, but there’s a slight roadblock — the infrastructure that is going to power the AI revolution is still being built.
GMI Cloud’s Mission
At GMI Cloud, we are in the business of building digital infrastructure for a digital world. Our mission is to foster a future where anyone with an idea can build something powerful using AI. To accomplish this, we seek to solve three key problems that companies are facing when it comes to implementing AI into their businesses:
- Fragmented Market Dynamics
- Enterprise Barrier to Entry
- GPU Supply Shortages leading to Long Lead Times
A Vertically Integrated Total Solution
Suppose you’re part of a new startup with an innovative idea or you’re a leader at a large existing enterprise with a treasure trove of data at its disposal. How would you go about integrating AI concepts into your business?
Currently, the AI market is fragmented between various hardware and software providers. With a host of vendors to sift through, this creates an added layer of complexity for companies who are struggling to cross the chasm when it comes to adopting AI.
Our ultimate vision at GMI Cloud is to provide a total solution for building with AI; a solution that companies around the world can seamlessly implement into their businesses. We understand that to accomplish this vision we need to be vertically integrated — which for us means controlling both hardware and software. This includes everything from GPU cloud and bare-metal offerings, virtualization and Kubernetes, all the way to full-fledged platform and application layers. We want to make building AI applications as simple and streamlined as building a website on Wix or an eCommerce store on Shopify.
Having extensive experience in the venture capital space working at Infinity Ventures and Aurablock Ventures, I’ve seen how VC firms have traditionally avoided investing in hardware focused companies. However, I believe this is a flawed approach. The largest and most innovative tech companies in the world are those who are able to leverage hardware to improve and scale their businesses. From Apple investing in their own chip production to Amazon building their own warehouses and delivery services, vertical integration down to the hardware level is how legendary businesses are built.
Increased Access to Premier GPUs
At GMI Cloud we have built our foundation on hardware — procuring the latest model GPUs from NVIDIA and operating out of top-tier data centers in APAC. We are part of the Cloud Service Provider Program in the NVIDIA Partner Network, and the first NVIDIA Certified Partner (NCP) in Taiwan. Our collaboration with NVIDIA allows us to offer clients with increased access to premier GPU models.
With data center operations in Taiwan and key partnerships with companies such as NVIDIA, Realtek, and GMI Technologies, GMI Cloud is uniquely positioned to help relieve the current global supply bottleneck for GPUs. We are currently able to offer 2x shorter lead times compared to our US competitors. A GPU shipment to the US might take several weeks and will include increased costs due to shipping and duties whereas delivery from NVIDIA to GMI Cloud data centers in Taiwan only requires a 1.5 hour drive down the road.
Our Team
Realizing any vision requires a team. I’m proud to be joined by Silicon Valley talent such as our CTO, Jim Yuan, and top engineers from Google X and Mineral.ai. Their talent along with our other team members will fulfill our vision of an integrated, common platform to build using AI.
As a venture-backed company, GMI Cloud also has a great cast of investors and advisors (like Digital Ocean co-founder, Alec Hartman) that help guide us on our path toward success.
Conclusion
Every day, I find new reasons to be excited about the potential benefits that AI is bringing to humanity. Breakthroughs in medicine, material science, engineering, and so many other fields are becoming possible with this new tool. I’m excited to be part of a company that is helping enable breakthroughs and is laying the key infrastructure that will empower the artificial intelligence and machine learning revolution.
