Montréal-based Hypertec Group has announced a first-of-its kind agreement in Canada that will see the AI infrastructure firm become a key partner for Nvidia in the country.
On Thursday, Nvidia named Hypertec’s Ciara division its first original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partner in Canada. The designation means benefits like pre-release product access, the ability to work more closely with Nvidia engineers, and marketing and sales support from the chip giant.
“It’s an enormous achievement; an enormous milestone.”
Simon Ahdoot, Hypertec
Hypertec specializes in high-performance computing, AI infrastructure, data centre construction, and custom manufacturing. The company’s CEO, Simon Ahdoot, told BetaKit in a phone interview that the OEM partnership acts as an endorsement from one of the most important companies in AI.
“It’s an enormous achievement; an enormous milestone,” he said.
Nvidia is an essential player in the AI space because its Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) are the industry standard for training and running large-scale AI models. The company commands well over 80 percent of the GPU market.
Ahdoot explained that Nvidia granting Hypertec OEM designation gives the company a “new level of visibility and credibility.” He pointed out that many big US tech companies operate as consumer brands, while most Canadian companies like Hypertec don’t. “We have a higher lift to become known,” he said. Nvidia telling its partners Hypertec is an authorized manufacturer will be an enormous updraft.
Outside of new visibility, Ahdoot said Hypertec now has more direct access to Nvidia’s products and engineers. Hypertec is already a Nvidia resale partner, but Ahdoot said being an OEM partner “gets us into design.” He explained that GPU systems are like Formula 1 cars, each precisely tuned to an individual driver. If Nvidia GPUs are the engine, Hypertec builds a car around them.
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For such technical work, direct access to Nvidia’s deep pool of talented engineers makes a significant difference. Ahdoot said that Hypertec plans to develop a suite of products with Nvidia’s hardware and that development will go much faster, and be more fulsomely stress tested, thanks to the support the company will get through Nvidia.
Ahdoot said that Hypertec’s OEM designation can also help with Canada’s sovereign AI technology ambitions.
“One of the things we need to seek to achieve as a nation is to become a net producer instead of a net consumer of AI services, all the way through the stack,” he said.
He said that, when Canadian developers create applications to fill out the AI stack, that IP remains Canadian. Better access to the best technology gives them a boost, and in the AI race “they need every advantage they can get to commercialize and sell their technology.”
Feature image courtesy Evan Solomon in LinkedIn.