The archive · AI & Models · Strategic decision · 2017–2024
Silo AI's European-flagship bet: AMD buys Helsinki AI lab for $665M
Helsinki's Silo AI bet Europe could build its own AI stack — open models on AMD GPUs — and exited to AMD for $665M in 2024.
Silo AI
What the business is
End-to-end AI products for enterprises plus open multilingual LLMs (Poro, Viking) trained on AMD-powered supercomputers.
How it started
Founded in Helsinki in 2017 by Peter Sarlin and colleagues, Silo AI grew into Europe's largest private AI lab, betting that European enterprises would pay for end-to-end AI built on open standards rather than US closed-model clouds.
What happened
Silo AI scaled its LLMs on LUMI, Europe's fastest supercomputer with over 12,000 AMD Instinct MI250X GPUs, releasing open multilingual models Poro and Viking; it grew to roughly 300 AI scientists and engineers, reporting €15M revenue and a €1.3M operating loss in 2023.
How it ended up
AMD announced an all-cash acquisition for approximately $665M on July 10, 2024 and completed it on August 12, 2024; Peter Sarlin stayed on to lead the team inside AMD's AI Group.
Background
Silo AI was founded in Helsinki in 2017 by Peter Sarlin and colleagues and grew into Europe's largest private AI lab. Its bet was that Europe could build an 'AI flagship': enterprise-ready AI services plus open multilingual LLMs trained on European supercomputers with AMD silicon, rather than renting closed US-model clouds.
The company scaled its models on LUMI, Europe's fastest supercomputer with over 12,000 AMD Instinct MI250X GPUs, releasing the open-source Poro and Viking models for EU languages. It served enterprises including Allianz, Philips, Rolls-Royce and Unilever, grew to roughly 300 AI scientists and engineers, and reported €15M revenue with a €1.3M operating loss in 2023.
On July 10, 2024 AMD signed a definitive agreement to acquire Silo AI for approximately $665M in cash — the largest AI acquisition in Europe in a decade, according to the Financial Times — and completed the deal on August 12, 2024. Sarlin continued to lead the team inside AMD's AI Group under senior vice president Vamsi Boppana.
What has to be true
- Silo AI trained genuinely open, multilingual LLMs on European infrastructure (LUMI), giving it a 'sovereign AI' position no US lab could credibly claim.
- Deep AMD-GPU expertise made the lab strategically valuable to AMD exactly when the chipmaker needed software and model credibility against Nvidia.
- A services business (Allianz, Philips, Rolls-Royce, Unilever) funded the lab and kept it close to real enterprise demand instead of pure research.
- The €15M revenue base shows the exit was priced on strategic value and talent, not on revenue — proof that niche stack ownership can create outsized outcomes.
What can be applied
A small-country AI lab can win by owning a stack the giants ignore — open models trained on AMD/LUMI hardware — and turn 'sovereign AI' into the acquisition a chipmaker needs for software credibility.
Aftermath
On close, Silo AI joined AMD's AI Group under senior vice president Vamsi Boppana, with Peter Sarlin continuing to lead the team; AMD said the acquisition accelerates development and deployment of AI models on AMD hardware and strengthens its open-source software push.
Sources
- AMD to Acquire Silo AI to Expand Enterprise AI Solutions Globally
- AMD Completes Acquisition of Silo AI
- Finland's Silo AI sold to US in Europe's largest AI deal in decade
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