The online giant bought a mysterious chip startup 10 years ago. It now looks like one of the smartest deals in tech history.
The $350 Million Bet That Powers Amazon’s AI
Ten years ago, a discreet barroom meeting between Annapurna Labs co-founder Nafea Bshara and Amazon’s top infrastructure visionary, James Hamilton, quietly ignited a technological transformation. Amazon’s $350 million acquisition of Annapurna, an obscure Israeli chip startup with almost no public profile, laid the groundwork for the company’s entire AI hardware backbone. Today, custom silicon from Annapurna—like the Trainium and Graviton chips—powers AWS’s supercomputers and drives Amazon’s $100 billion cloud business. As competitors scramble to match Nvidia’s dominance, Amazon’s head start in homegrown chips, fueled by this little-known acquisition, is proving to be a cornerstone of its AI strategy.
My Take
Amazon’s success with Annapurna proves that the deepest innovations often start with whispered conversations and a long-term view. The lesson: focus less on visibility, and more on building the thing others don’t yet realize they’ll need.
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Credit: WSJ
This post reflects my own thoughts and analysis, informed by media reports, personal insights, and professional experience. While AI-assisted, it has been reviewed for clarity and relevance.