Posted inEmergent Tech

UAE tech group unveils world’s largest supercomputer for AI training

CG-1 allows customers to enjoy the performance of an AI supercomputer without having to manage or distribute models over physical systems

Cerebras Systems and G42, the UAE-based technology holding group, announced Condor Galaxy, a network of nine interconnected supercomputers, offering a new approach to AI computing that promises to reduce AI model training time significantly.

The first AI supercomputer on this network, Condor Galaxy 1 (CG-1), has 4 exaFLOPs and 54 million cores. Cerebras and G42 plan to deploy two more supercomputers, CG-2 and CG-3, in the U.S. in early 2024.

“This partnership brings together Cerebras’ extraordinary compute capabilities, together with G42’s multi-industry AI expertise. G42 and Cerebras’ shared vision is that Condor Galaxy will be used to address society’s most pressing challenges across healthcare, energy, climate action and more,” said Talal Alkaissi, CEO of G42 Cloud, a subsidiary of G42.

Located in Santa Clara, California, CG-1 links 64 Cerebras CS-2 systems together into a single, easy-to-use AI supercomputer, with an AI training capacity of 4 exaFLOPs. Cerebras and G42 offer CG-1 as a cloud service, allowing customers to enjoy the performance of an AI supercomputer without having to manage or distribute models over physical systems.

CG-1 is the first time Cerebras has partnered not only to build a dedicated AI supercomputer but also to manage and operate it. CG-1 is designed to enable G42 and its cloud customers to train large, ground-breaking models quickly and easily, thereby accelerating innovation. The Cerebras-G42 strategic partnership has already advanced state-of-the-art AI models in Arabic bilingual chat, healthcare and climate studies. 

“Delivering 4 exaFLOPs of AI compute at FP 16, CG-1 dramatically reduces AI training timelines while eliminating the pain of distributed compute,” said Andrew Feldman, CEO of Cerebras Systems. “Many cloud companies have announced massive GPU clusters that cost billions of dollars to build, but that are extremely difficult to use. Distributing a single model over thousands of tiny GPUs takes months of time from dozens of people with rare expertise. CG-1 eliminates this challenge. Setting up a generative AI model takes minutes, not months and can be done by a single person. CG-1 is the first of three 4 exaFLOP AI supercomputers to be deployed across the U.S. Over the next year, together with G42, we plan to expand this deployment and stand up a staggering 36 exaFLOPs of efficient, purpose-built AI compute.”