TensorWave raises $350M led by AMD to build an Nvidia-free AI cloud

The Las Vegas startup runs its data centres entirely on AMD chips. Its backer, AMD, just helped quadruple its valuation to $1.55bn.


TensorWave raises $350M led by AMD to build an Nvidia-free AI cloud Image by: TensorWave

TensorWave, a cloud provider that runs its AI data centres on AMD chips rather than Nvidia’s, has raised $350M in a Series B round led by AMD and the hedge fund Magnetar Capital. The deal values the Las Vegas startup at $1.55bn.

That is nearly four times the roughly $400M valuation it carried a year ago. Founded in 2023, TensorWave positions itself as an alternative to Nvidia, whose GPUs dominate AI infrastructure. “We were created to restore competition to the market,” chief executive Darrick Horton said.

The new capital will fund more data-centre capacity and more chips. TensorWave has already deployed a training cluster of around 8,000 AMD Instinct MI325X accelerators, and the round follows a $100M Series A, co-led by the same backers, in May 2025.

AMD is funding its own customer

The notable part is who is paying. AMD is both TensorWave’s chip supplier and now a lead investor, using its balance sheet to build out a buyer for its accelerators and a counterweight to Nvidia. It is the same playbook Nvidia has run from the other side, pouring more than $40bn into AI equity bets this year, including $2bn into Nebius.

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TensorWave is wading into a crowded and capital-hungry market. The ‘neoclouds’ renting out AI compute, led by CoreWeave and Nebius, have signed multibillion-dollar deals but lean almost entirely on Nvidia hardware. An AMD-only cloud is a bet that customers want a second source badly enough to switch.

The risk is the same one facing every neocloud: these are debt-and-equity-fuelled buildouts priced on AI demand staying vertical. AMD’s backing gives TensorWave cheaper access to chips and a marquee name, but a $1.55bn tag on a three-year-old infrastructure firm assumes the compute crunch, and AMD’s share of it, keeps growing.

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