Amazon releases TorchNeuron to move PyTorch apps onto Trainium
The tool aims at Nvidia's software lead by making PyTorch run on Amazon's chip with one configuration change.
Code#08
85%
Share of AI apps Amazon says use PyTorch
Image: TechCrunch
85%Share of AI apps Amazon says use PyTorch
The short version
- On Monday, Amazon Web Services released TorchNeuron, a tool that lets AI startups move their PyTorch apps onto its Trainium chip.
- Amazon says apps can run on Trainium by changing just one line of configuration, with no code rewrite.
- Amazon also says it is contributing changes upstream to PyTorch to remove code that ties the framework to specific chips.
- AWS says the same chip handles both training and inference, and that its cloud will save startups money.
Why it matters
PyTorch is the toolkit many AI developers use, and Nvidia's CUDA support has made Nvidia hardware the default choice. If PyTorch becomes less tied to one vendor, developers may get more hardware options. The article notes it is still unclear whether this will bring more choice or more configuration problems.
“The real story is removing the lock-in that kept developers from having a real choice at all.”