The Toronto-based startup was developing hardware for AI inference, touting its speedAI line as an energy-efficient alternative to hardware from big-name firms.
But the startup looks set to shutter, with Untether no longer supplying its products or Software Development Kit while its staff shift across to AMD in an acqui-hire move.
“While today marks the end of Untether AI’s journey, we are proud of the pioneering research that underpinned our work in advancing state-of-the-art AI chip technology,” the company said in a statement.
“We are grateful for the dedication of our team and the support of our customers, partners, and investors. We look forward to the contributions our world-class team will make with AMD.”
The trio of Darrick Wiebe, Martin Snelgrove, and Raymond Chik founded the firm in 2018 with a vision of creating more energy-efficient hardware for both edge devices and data centres.
Their “at-memory” architecture placed processing elements directly next to memory cells, which minimised data movement and, in turn, significantly reduced power consumption while boosting throughput for AI workloads compared to traditional architectures.
However, its alternative approach looks like it will be left to the wayside, as AMD has snapped up Untether’s staff, but not its technology or products.
AMD will tap the staff from the likely shuttered startup for its expertise in AI compiler, kernel development, and SoC design to support its growing AI portfolio.
Untether’s team will join engineers from ZT Systems, after AMD completed its $6.3 billion purchase of the server maker in April to further boost its AI and data centre offerings.
