French AI Startup ZML Releases Multi-Chip LLM Software

en.Wedoany.com Reported - French AI startup ZML, backed by Turing Award winner Yann LeCun, has released a software called ZML/LLMD that enables multiple open-source large language models to run on different chips, including Nvidia, AMD, Google TPU, Apple Metal, and Intel Arc, aiming to break Nvidia's dominance in the AI chip market. ZML founder Steeve Morin told TechCrunch that the software, serving as an LLM inference server, aims to give enterprises and cloud service providers the option to use a mix of chips, including cheaper or more energy-efficient ones, thereby reducing AI-related costs and driving large-scale deployment.

Morin remains neutral toward Nvidia, acknowledging that ZML has a good relationship with the company and noting that Nvidia is preparing for growing inference demand, a trend referred to as the "inference gold rush." ZML/LLMD is not open-source but is released for free to study usage patterns. Morin plans to first gauge the market and then generate revenue through the most effective means. Previously serving as engineering vice president at Zenly, which was acquired by Snapchat for a nine-figure sum in 2017, Morin leveraged this background to raise $20 million from multiple venture capital firms, including Harry Stebbings’ 20VC, >commit, AALVC, Drysdale Ventures, Xavier Niel’s Kima Ventures, Kindred Capital, LocalGlobe, and Puzzle Ventures. The shareholder list also includes other startup founders, such as Solomon Hykes, founder of Dagger and Docker, as well as Clément Delangue and Julien Chaumond from Hugging Face.

The Paris-based startup has a team of 20 people, and Morin attributes its rapid progress to the lean team. Morin emphasized that European AI startups can thrive locally, specifically mentioning emerging AI chip manufacturers such as Axelera, Fractile, Kalray, OLIX, Q.ANT, SiPearl, SpiNNcloud, and VSORA. He believes that ZML's collaboration with these manufacturers could create "something the world has never seen before." In the inference space, ZML faces competitors such as Baseten, valued at $13 billion, Inferact, founded by the creators of the open-source project vLLM, and RadixArk, the commercial company behind SGLang. Morin stated that ZML's ambitions are broader, reaching the level of "co-designing chips."

Currently, the timeline for a paid product of ZML/LLMD and subsequent adoption remain unclear, but with investor support and a solid team foundation, ZML has the potential to reshape the competitive landscape of the AI chip industry.