Amazon is trying to dominate the artificial intelligence (AI) landscape. It has lately announced to be investing $230 million in AI startups and the fund will be basically through Amazon Web Services (AWS) credits. However, the move highlights fierce competition among cloud providers to secure AI innovators.
The initiative of Amazon is to mainly focus on generative AI startups. The early-stage companies will gain free access to the computing power of AWS. AWS vice president of AI Products, Matt Wood said that they will be able to iterate quickly with the move.
The investment is about free credits and also part of a broader strategy to foster innovation. Its focus is to capture market share. Amazon dispenses $1 billion a year in cloud credits to startups. However, the target of $230 million showcases a focus on generative AI.
Part of the investment will be fueled by the AWS Generative AI Accelerator program. It will support 80 startups worldwide. Each selected startup will be eligible to receive up to $1 million in AWS credits.
Rivals like Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud are also providing similar incentives to attract enterprises. They hope to lock in startups early and ensure long-term customer loyalty.
The move of Amazon simultaneously aligns with its broader efforts and that is to integrate more AI models from various providers. It is believed that diversification within AWS may enhance its appeal and flexibility. Hence, it may become a more attractive platform for AI development.
The rise in AI demand has boosted use of cloud services lately and this contributes to robust growth for cloud providers. AWS witnessed a 17% revenue increase to $9.42 billion in the first quarter. Such growth highlights the relationship between AI advancements and cloud infrastructure.
