AMD Teases Refreshed Instinct MI300 Accelerators With Higher HBM3E Memory Capacities

AMD has "officially" verified that a refresh is planned for the Instinct MI300 AI accelerator, which is expected to be equipped with the bleeding-edge HBM3e memory type.

This development initially surfaced as a rumor a few days ago when AMD was supposedly planning on upgrading the MI300 to a new HBM type. It meant that the refreshed Instinct MI300 would mark AMD's transition to a better standard, as the firm's previous releases were based on the relatively older HBM3. With HBM3e, the firm plans to compete with existing NVIDIA counterparts, such as the Hopper GH200, and position itself against the Blackwell B100 AI GPU. By doing so, Team Red plans to deliver a "relatively" cost-effective solution in the AI markets without compromising generational performance.

AMD's CTO Mark Papermaster has "indirectly" verified this while delivering a presentation at the Arete Investor Webinar Conference, claiming that the company is looking for multiple approaches to consolidate its market positions. He revealed that memory adjustments are a path they can adopt, along with implementing more considerable changes in the form of "refresh" to elevate the Instinct MI300 lineup further.

We are not standing still. We made adjustments to accelerate our roadmap with both memory configurations around the MI300 family, derivatives of MI300, the generation next. […] So, we have 8-Hi stacks. We architected for 12-Hi stacks. We are shipping with MI300 HBM3. We have architected for HBM3E.

Mark Papermaster (AMD CEO) via Seeking Alpha

For a quick rundown, the HBM3e memory standard offers a 50% faster speed up over the existing HBM3 standard, delivering up to 10 TB/s bandwidth per system and 5 TB/s bandwidth per chip with memory capacities of up to 141 GB. Moreover, by upgrading the onboard memory, AMD would quickly deliver the solutions to the markets, which means that they could potentially take the lead in the mid-tier computing segment, given that the firm manages to ensure a steady supply.

With the Instinct MI400 AI accelerator planned for a release by 2025, it seems like AMD is indeed ramping up efforts to grasp the attention of its competitors, and this fact is reiterated by Mark himself, who believes that the firm has "officially" entered the AI race, which is going to be a long or hefty one. AMD looks ambitious with its AI offerings, but seeing how it leads itself up to a dominant position would be interesting.

News Source: Seeking Alpha