In a strategic move to enhance its AI capabilities, AMD has entered a definitive agreement to acquire ZT Systems for USD $4.9 billion. This acquisition, designed to bolster AMD’s AI and general-purpose compute infrastructure, includes a contingent payment of up to USD $400 million based on specific post-closing milestones. The transaction is anticipated to close in the first half of 2025, pending regulatory approvals.
Dr. Lisa Su, AMD’s Chair and CEO, stated, “Our acquisition of ZT Systems is the next major step in our long-term AI strategy to deliver leadership training and inferencing solutions that can be rapidly deployed at scale across cloud and enterprise customers.” She emphasized that ZT Systems’ expertise will greatly amplify AMD’s data center AI systems and customer enablement capacities.
ZT Systems, based in Secaucus, New Jersey, has over 15 years of experience in designing and deploying data center AI compute and storage infrastructure for the world’s largest cloud companies. This acquisition will see ZT Systems’ design, integration, manufacturing, and deployment capabilities integrated into AMD’s data center solutions. Post-transaction, ZT Systems will become part of AMD’s Data Centre Solutions Business Group. ZT Systems’ CEO Frank Zhang will lead the manufacturing business, while President Doug Huang will head the design and customer enablement teams, both reporting to AMD Executive Vice President and General Manager Forrest Norrod.
Frank Zhang commented, “We are excited to join AMD and together play an even larger role in designing the AI infrastructure that is defining the future of computing. For almost 30 years, we have evolved our business to become a leading provider of critical computing and storage infrastructure for the world’s largest cloud companies. AMD shares our vision for the important role our technology and our people play in designing and building the computing infrastructure powering the largest data centres in the world.”
In alignment with this acquisition, AMD plans to seek a strategic partner to acquire ZT Systems’ manufacturing business. This is part of AMD’s extensive strategy to enhance its AI capabilities further. Over the past year, AMD has invested more than USD $1 billion in expanding its AI ecosystem and strengthening its AI software capabilities.
