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AMD takes on Nvidia with its Helios AI rack scale system

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Chipmaker AMD is taking aim at competitor Nvidia with its latest hardware release: a rack-scale system designed to power computing needs of the world’s largest AI labs.

At the company’s sold-out Advancing AI conference in San Francisco on Thursday, AMD Chair and CEO Dr. Lisa Su promoted the new AI rack system known as Helios — along with its growing list of customers, including Microsoft — as the company prepares to ship it later this year. Su also pitched the company’s newest chips that are designed to feed the compute-hungry dragon that is the AI industry.

Rack systems combine many processors into a single high-powered unit. They are built for data centers, where they train and run AI models and other compute-intensive workloads.

Su called Helios the tech industry’s “highest performance AI rack,” adding that it was “built to train and run the most demanding frontier models in the world at massive scale.” The system will be deployed by leading AI companies at gigawatt-scale, the company said.

Nvidia has historically dominated this market with its Vera Rubin and Grace Blackwell rack-scale systems. AMD is clearly looking to get in on the action. And Helios’ performance metrics appear to give it a real chance, beating out Vera Rubin by a number of metrics, the Register reported.

Helios, which was first revealed in 2025 and shown onstage in January at CES 2026, already has several well-known customers, including OpenAI, Meta, Oracle, Anthropic, and Microsoft, all of which have plans to deploy the system. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Monday that the company would expand its Azure infrastructure with Helios. Meanwhile, Anthropic and AMD announced a strategic partnership Wednesday for deploy up to two gigawatts of GPUs via the new rack system.

AMD also introduced Thursday its Venice-X CPU, which is designed for data centers and to handle high-computing workloads. The Venice-X is expected to launch in 2027.

During her remarks, Su commented on the trajectory of the chip industry, claiming that, by the year 2030, chips that power AI will become a massive part of the overall computing market. This’s because the industry is “seeing a step change in compute demand” driven largely by the rise of agentic AI, she said.

“When you ask the agent to do something, it actually has dozens of steps, and it has to reason, and it has to call tools, and it has to access data, and it has to keep doing it over and over until it solves the problem, and so you need lots of GPUs to do all that,” the executive said.

“We’re now expecting that by 2030, the AI accelerator market is going to reach about $1.4 trillion,” Su said. “What that means is, by the end of the decade, the AI accelerator market is going to approach the size of the entire semiconductor market today.”

“We do expect that GPUs are going to make up the vast majority of that market because the algorithms are still very much in their infancy, and we’re still continuing to see the workloads change, and that favors programmability in the overall silicon ecosystem,” she added.

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Double Injury Concern Hits Super Eagles

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The Super Eagles have been hit by a double injury concern ahead of their 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Guinea-Bissau on Tuesday.

George Ilenikhena and Akor Adams both missed training on Sunday, raising doubts over their availability for the match in Bissau.

The two strikers featured in Nigeria’s 2-1 win over Madagascar last week but failed to finish the game. Adams was substituted after just over an hour, while Ilenikhena was taken off in the 69th minute.

Their latest injury concerns come at a difficult time for Nigeria, with Victor Osimhen already missing out of the squad through injury.

Coach Eric Chelle, however, still has other options in attack. Taiwo Awoniyi and Tolu Arokodare both came off the bench against Madagascar and could be handed starting roles if Ilenikhena and Adams are unavailable.

Moses Usor is also pushing for a place in the starting XI after scoring off the bench against Madagascar.

Wilfred Ndidi and Alex Iwobi are expected to continue in midfield, while Ademola Lookman and Samuel Chukwueze could provide attacking support from the flanks.

Stanley Nwabili is expected to keep his place in goal, with Arthur Okonkwo still waiting for his Nigeria debut.

Chelle could also make changes to the defence after most of his defenders played almost the entire game against Madagascar. Bright Osayi-Samuel could come into the starting XI to provide fresh legs.

Predicted Nigeria XI vs Guinea-Bissau

Nwabili; Osayi-Samuel, Ajayi, Bassey, Onyemaechi; Chukwueze, Ndidi, Iwobi, Lookman; Awoniyi, Arokodare.

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‘Nigeria can’t be run by delegation and press release’ — NDC blasts Tinubu

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The Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, has criticised President Bola Tinubu over his absence from the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly, UNGA, in New York.

The party, in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Osa Director, on Monday, described Tinubu’s absence as his third consecutive failure to attend the global gathering since assuming office in 2023.

The NDC said Nigerians had previously been told that Tinubu would attend the UNGA before the Presidency announced on September 20 that Vice President Kashim Shettima had been “mandated” to lead Nigeria’s delegation.

The party also questioned Tinubu’s more than three-week absence from Nigeria, alleging that the situation had created a governance vacuum.

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It further accused the President of failing to comply with Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution, which it said requires a written declaration to the National Assembly when the President is proceeding on vacation or otherwise unable to discharge his functions.

The NDC also criticised the President’s absence from what it described as an important opportunity for direct diplomatic and economic engagements with other world leaders.

“A nation of over 200 million people can not be run by delegation and press release. Nigeria deserves a President who is present,” the party said.

NDC demanded the immediate disclosure of Tinubu’s whereabouts and health status, compliance with Section 145 of the Constitution and an end to what it described as “informal, unconstitutional rule from abroad”.

The NDC also questioned the Presidency’s explanation that Tinubu could not travel to New York “to speak for just 15 minutes”, arguing that UNGA provides opportunities for high-level diplomatic engagements beyond the official speeches.

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