Oracle is expanding its partnership with Nvidia, offering new GPU options and AI infrastructure services on its cloud platform, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). This move signifies the growing maturity of the artificial intelligence market and aims to provide businesses of all sizes with more flexibility in leveraging AI capabilities.
Under this partnership, OCI will now include the Nvidia L40S GPUs in its compute offerings, as well as introduce new virtual machine options for Nvidia H100 Tensor Core GPUs. These additions reflect the increasing demand for AI computing power across a wide range of enterprise operations.
The L40S GPU instances are designed to serve multiple AI workloads, including inference, training smaller models, and graphics-intensive applications like digital twins. According to Dave Salvator, director of accelerated computing products at Nvidia, the L40S GPU can be considered a “universal AI accelerator” that excels in inference and training small models while also offering visual capabilities for 3D rendering and video processing.
Oracle is offering these new GPU options in both bare metal and virtual machine configurations, providing customers with more choices in deploying their AI workloads. The bare metal option, in particular, ensures maximum performance, which is crucial in the initial stages of AI development.
Another significant update is the expansion of Oracle’s “OCI Supercluster” service, which now supports up to 65,000 NVIDIA GPUs. This enhancement is targeted at organizations working with the largest AI models that have hundreds of billions of parameters. The ability to scale compute power and networking capabilities is crucial for deploying AI applications quickly and efficiently.
Industry analysts view this expansion as a strategic move by Oracle to compete more aggressively in the AI cloud market, currently dominated by Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. By leveraging its partnership with Nvidia, Oracle positions itself as a serious contender for enterprises seeking to deploy large-scale AI workloads. This partnership is also beneficial for Nvidia, as it provides another major cloud platform to showcase its latest GPU technologies and expand its reach in the enterprise market.
The introduction of these new options by Oracle demonstrates its commitment to staying competitive in the rapidly evolving AI landscape. It allows businesses to right-size their AI infrastructure investments, potentially lowering barriers to entry for smaller organizations while providing the necessary scale for demanding AI workloads. Oracle aims to serve all types of customers, from tech giants working with massive models to small engineering teams focusing on specialized applications.
With this announcement, Oracle sends a clear message about its AI ambitions and sets the stage for increased competition in the cloud AI market. Businesses can now look to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure as a viable option for deploying their AI workloads and accessing powerful and flexible AI infrastructure.