Lambda inks multi-billion-dollar AI infrastructure deal with Microsoft

Lambda, a prominent player in cloud computing, has significantly expanded its partnership with Microsoft through a monumental AI infrastructure agreement. On Monday, the Nvidia-backed firm revealed that it has entered into a multi-billion-dollar contract with Microsoft to deploy a staggering number of Nvidia GPUs, although the precise value of the deal remains confidential. Among the GPUs included in this agreement are the newly announced Nvidia GB300 NVL72 systems, which have recently commenced shipping. Stephen Balaban, CEO of Lambda, expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration, emphasizing, "It’s great to watch the Microsoft and Lambda teams working together to deploy these massive AI supercomputers. We’ve been working with Microsoft for more than eight years, and this is a phenomenal next step in our relationship." This partnership comes on the heels of Microsoft launching its first Nvidia GB300 NVL72 cluster last month. Founded in 2012, Lambda has raised $1.7 billion in venture capital and is witnessing a surge in demand for AI infrastructure as businesses increasingly invest in AI capabilities. The announcement follows another significant development where Microsoft disclosed a $9.7 billion agreement for AI cloud capacity with IREN, an Australian data center provider. Additionally, OpenAI recently revealed a monumental $38 billion cloud services deal with Amazon, aimed at bolstering its computing resources over the next seven years. Reports indicate that OpenAI also secured a $300 billion cloud computing agreement with Oracle in September. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is reportedly poised for its most profitable year in three years, with $33 billion in sales recorded thus far in 2023. Andy Jassy, Amazon’s president and CEO, stated, "AWS is growing at a pace we haven’t seen since 2022, re-accelerating to 20.2% year-over-year. We continue to see strong demand in AI and core infrastructure, and we’ve been focused on accelerating capacity—adding more than 3.8 gigawatts in the past 12 months." TechCrunch has reached out to Lambda for further details regarding the specifics of the deal's structure and size.