July 10 (Reuters) - Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ) said

on Wednesday it will acquire Finnish artificial intelligence

startup Silo AI for about $665 million in cash as the company

tries to enhance its AI chip capabilities to compete against

industry leader Nvidia.

Building and training large language models is challenging,

even for big tech companies.

Acquiring Silo AI will help AMD improve the development and

deployment of AMD-powered AI models and help potential customers

build complex AI models with the company's chips, AMD said.

Silo AI will also strengthen AMD's software development

capabilities.

While the deal will not impact AMD's financial performance,

it "unlocks a significant amount of business moving forward,"

AMD Senior Vice President of AI, Vamsi Boppana said in an

interview.

AMD declined to discuss how much business the acquisition

would generate over time.

Helsinki, Finland-based Silo AI specializes in end-to-end

AI-driven solutions that help customers integrate the tech into

their products and services. With operations in Europe and North

America, the startup counts companies, including Philips

, Rolls-Royce and Unilever ( UL ) among its

customers.

Silo AI's CEO and co-founder Peter Sarlin will continue to

lead the unit as part of the AMD Artificial Intelligence Group,

AMD said. The deal is expected to close in the second half of

2024.

The acquisition marks the latest step from AMD in a series

of moves aimed at expanding its footprint in the AI landscape.

Last year, the company acquired AI software firms Mipsology and

Nod.ai and has invested more than $125 million across a dozen AI

companies over the last 12 months.