TinyCorp, the company that has recently made headlines due to its AI venture, has ultimately decided to part ways with AMD due to the firmware constraints they are witnessing and now utilizing NVIDIA and Intel hardware.
TinyCorp's Finally Gives On The Troubles The Firm Faced With AMD's GPU Firmware Libraries, Looks Out For Better Alternatives
We recently reported on how TinyCorp is developing an "AI package" called the TinyBox, which features six of AMD's Radeon RX 7900 XT and an attempt to normalize the use of consumer GPUs for AI workloads.
The company did receive massive interest from the markets, as their TinyBox AI solution came with an attractive price tag, but unfortunately, the firm ran into multiple issues with the onboard GPU's firmware, which halted their development. Despite AMD's CEO Lisa Su intervening in the problem, it seems like TinyBox has given up, and their latest update has revealed that they might switch camps.
The AMD tinybox is on hold until we can build and run the relevant firmware on our GPUs.
The driver is still very unstable, and when it crashes or hangs we have no way of debugging it. We have no way of dumping the state of a GPU. Apparently it isn't just the MES causing these…
— the tiny corp (@__tinygrad__) March 19, 2024
The issue is something grave for TinyCorp, as highlighted by the company themselves, and according to them, they have contacted AMD multiple times but failed to receive a satisfactory response, claiming that Team Red was "hesitant" in open-sourcing its work.
TinyCorp says AMD's GPU firmware is "complex, undocumented, closed source, and signed, all struggles we wouldn't have with our hardware." They are moving towards either opting for Intel solutions, probably the Intel Arc A770, or employing six of NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4090s since they believe Team Green has better software support.
I have spoken with AMD on multiple occasions, we have gotten through to top people, and they have been quite nice to us. I believe they want to be more open, and obviously they don't want their driver to have bugs.
Unfortunately, this access and responses prolonged this…
— the tiny corp (@__tinygrad__) March 19, 2024
The frustrations in TinyCorp on AMD's GPU firmware libraries are justified since their TinyBox project is indeed a one-of-a-kind solution, and simply running into minor yet complex issues is unaffordable for the firm at this stage.
Moreover, it also raises questions about AMD's efforts toward community support, but yet again, if we look at the broader picture, a $300 billion company can't simply open-source its years of work for the sake of an AI endeavor. However, Team Red should cooperate with TinyCorp to make their TinyBox a reality since it would tarnish their reputation among similar AI startups.
About the author: Muhammad Zuhair is a hardware and technology reporter for Wccftech, specializing in the semiconductor industry and the complex interplay between technology, manufacturing, and geopolitics. His coverage focuses on the corporate strategies and technological roadmaps of industry giants like TSMC, NVIDIA, Samsung, and Intel. Zuhair's expertise lies in deconstructing complex topics such as fabrication nodes (e.g., 2nm process), the economic impact of policies like the CHIPS Act, and the strategic development of AI infrastructure from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel.
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