Latest news with #J.J.Kardwell
CNBC
23-06-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Vultr raises over $300 million in debt as Wall Street goes bigger in cloud infrastructure
Vultr, a provider of cloud infrastructure, said on Monday that it has raised $329 million in new debt from some of the largest Wall Street banks as it aims to expand its ability to host and run artificial intelligence models. Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, KeyBank and Wells Fargo participated in the syndicated credit facility, according to a statement. The company didn't provide an exact rate that it's paying for the debt, but did say that it's down dramatically from prior debt raises in the industry, a sign that banks are getting more comfortable with the asset class. CoreWeave, the AI infrastructure provider that went public earlier this year, said last month that it had raised $2 billion in fresh debt at a 9.25% annual interest rate. That's down from a rate of over 14% in 2023 and 11% in 2024. Vultr CEO J.J. Kardwell told CNBC that his company's new debt is "hundreds of basis points below" what CoreWeave is paying in its latest offering. In 2021 Vultr raised $150 million in debt from Bank of America and JPMorgan. Major cloud providers such as Amazon and Microsoft are shelling out tens of billions of dollars a year to set up data centers to meet growing demand, particularly for AI. While the megacap tech companies have hefty cash balances, many of the smaller cloud players have to tap outside sources of capital. Vultr is still privately held, but the company says it's profitable. CoreWeave, for its part, reported a $314.6 million net loss in the first quarter on about $982 million in revenue. As of March, CoreWeave had $8.7 billion in debt, according to its latest financial results. Founded in 2014 and based in West Palm Beach, Florida, Vultr has built up a base of over 1.5 million customers, many of them paying a few dollars per month. The company operates 32 regions of data centers, mostly outside the U.S. Competitors include Akamai's Linode and DigitalOcean. In AI, Vultr competes more closely with companies like CoreWeave. In December Vultr said chipmaker AMD joined in a $333 million funding round, valuing the startup at $3.5 billion, while Nvidia-backed CoreWeave has a market cap of $88 billion, up more than fourfold from its IPO. Vultr rents out AI chips from AMD as well as market leader Nvidia. Kardwell said Vultr is always evaluating its options regarding a possible IPO, but hasn't made a decision on its plans.
Techday NZ
18-06-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
Vultr launches early access to AMD Instinct MI355X GPU for AI
Vultr has announced the availability of the AMD Instinct MI355X GPU as part of its cloud infrastructure services. As one of the first cloud providers to integrate the new AMD Instinct MI355X GPU, Vultr is now taking pre-orders for early access, with global availability scheduled for the third quarter of the year. The GPU forms part of AMD's latest focus on high-capacity computational demands, catering to artificial intelligence (AI) workloads as well as enterprise-scale applications. Product features The AMD Instinct MI355X GPU is based on AMD's 4th Generation CDNA architecture. According to Vultr, this GPU features 288 GB of HBM3E memory, delivers up to 8 TB/s of memory bandwidth, and supports expanded datatypes such as FP6 and FP4. These improvements are designed to address complex tasks ranging from AI training and inference to scientific simulations within high-performance computing (HPC) environments. For customers operating within higher-density data environments, the Instinct MI355X supports direct liquid cooling (DLC). This enhancement offers increased thermal efficiency, which is intended to unlock greater computing performance per rack and facilitate advanced, scalable cooling strategies. The GPU is also supported by the latest version of AMD's ROCm software, which further optimises tasks related to AI inference, training, and compatibility with various frameworks. This results in improved throughput and reduced latency for critical operations. AMD and Vultr partnership Vultr's portfolio already includes other AMD offerings, such as the AMD EPYC 9004 Series and EPYC 7003 Series central processing units (CPUs), as well as previous GPU models like the Instinct MI325X and MI300X. Customers using the MI355X in combination with AMD EPYC 4005 Series CPUs will benefit from a fully supported computing stack across both processing and acceleration functions, streamlining high-powered workloads from end to end. Negin Oliver, Corporate Vice President of Business Development, Data Centre GPU Business at AMD, stated: "AMD is the trusted AI solutions provider of choice, enabling customers to tackle the most ambitious AI initiatives, from building large-scale AI cloud deployments to accelerating AI-powered scientific discovery. AMD Instinct MI350 series GPUs paired with AMD ROCm software provide the performance, flexibility, and security needed to deliver tailored AI solutions that meet the diverse demands of the modern AI landscape." The collaboration builds on Vultr's efforts to support a range of AMD solutions tailored for enterprise, HPC, and AI sectors, reinforcing the company's capacity to cater to evolving customer workloads. Cloud market implications J.J. Kardwell, Chief Executive Officer of Vultr, highlighted the alignment of the new GPU with market requirements. Kardwell commented: "AMD MI355X GPUs are designed to meet the diverse and complex demands of today's AI workloads, delivering exceptional value and flexibility. As AI development continues to accelerate, the scalability, security, and efficiency these GPUs deliver are more essential than ever. We are proud to be among the first cloud providers worldwide to offer AMD MI355X GPUs, empowering our customers with next-generation AI infrastructure." AMD is recognised as a member of the Vultr Cloud Alliance, which supports a collaborative ecosystem of technology providers focused on offering integrated cloud computing solutions. The introduction of the MI355X GPU follows a period of upgrades across AMD's GPU lineup, including a greater emphasis on catering to both inferencing and enterprise-scale workloads. Vultr's offering is aimed at organisations seeking advanced compute resources for AI-driven applications and scientific tasks requiring significant computational capacity. Vultr's global network reportedly serves hundreds of thousands of customers across 185 countries, supplying services in cloud compute, GPU, bare metal infrastructure and cloud storage. The addition of AMD's latest GPU to its infrastructure underlines Vultr's commitment to providing a variety of options for businesses and developers pursuing AI and HPC advancements.
Business Wire
13-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Vultr Deploys New AMD EPYC™ 4005 Series Processors to Deliver Easy-to-Use, Low-Cost Systems for Growing Businesses
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Vultr, the world's largest privately-held cloud infrastructure company, today announced that it is one of the first cloud providers to offer the new AMD EPYC™ 4005 Series processors. The AMD EPYC 4005 Series processors will be available on the Vultr platform, enabling enterprise-class features and leading performance for businesses and hosted IT service providers. The AMD EPYC 4005 Series processors extend the broad AMD EPYC processor family, powering a new line of cost-effective systems designed for growing businesses and hosted IT services providers that demand performance, advanced technologies, energy efficiency, and affordability. Servers featuring the high-performance AMD EPYC 4005 Series CPUs with streamlined memory and I/O feature sets are designed to deliver compelling system price-to-performance metrics on key customer workloads. Meanwhile, the combination of up to 16 SMT-capable cores and DDR5 memory in the AMD EPYC 4005 Series processors enables smooth execution of business-critical workloads, while maintaining the thermal and power efficiency characteristics crucial for affordable compute environments. 'Vultr is committed to delivering the most advanced cloud infrastructure with unrivaled price-to-performance,' said J.J. Kardwell, CEO of Vultr. 'The AMD EPYC 4005 Series provides straightforward deployment, scalability, high clock speed, energy efficiency, and best-in-class performance. Whether you are a business striving to scale reliably or a developer crafting the next groundbreaking innovation, these solutions are designed to deliver exceptional value and meet demanding requirements now and in the future.' Vultr's launch of systems featuring the AMD EPYC 4245P and AMD EPYC 4345P processors will expand the company's robust line of Bare Metal solutions. Vultr will also feature the AMD EPYC 4345P as part of its High Frequency Compute (HFC) offerings for organizations requiring the highest clock speeds and access to locally-attached NVMe storage. 'We designed the AMD EPYC 4005 Series CPUs with our system partners in mind, creating a processor that enables them to develop differentiated, cost-effective enterprise solutions,' said Derek Dicker, Corporate Vice President, Enterprise and HPC Business, AMD. 'The memory and I/O feature sets, combined with our latest 'Zen 5' architecture, give our technology partners the flexibility to create powerful yet affordable systems that meet the specific needs of growing businesses and dedicated hosters.' AMD is a member of the Vultr Cloud Alliance, a composable ecosystem of best-of-breed technology partners delivering integrated solutions and services for cloud computing. The AMD EPYC 4005 Series joins Vultr's other AMD offerings, which include the AMD EPYC 9004 Series, the AMD EPYC 7003 Series, and the AMD Instinct MI325X and MI300X GPUs. To learn more about the AMD and Vultr partnership, visit us here and contact sales to get started. About Vultr Vultr is on a mission to make high-performance cloud infrastructure easy to use, affordable, and locally accessible for enterprises and AI innovators around the world. Vultr is trusted by hundreds of thousands of active customers across 185 countries for its flexible, scalable, global Cloud Compute, Cloud GPU, Bare Metal, and Cloud Storage solutions. Founded by David Aninowsky and self-funded for over a decade, Vultr has grown to become the world's largest privately held cloud infrastructure company. Learn more at:
