FILE PHOTO: An AMD logo and a computer motherboard appear in this illustration taken August 25, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Dec 2 (Reuters) - Cloud infrastructure company Vultr said on Tuesday it would invest more than $1 billion to launch a new artificial intelligence cluster powered by Advanced Micro Devices' processors at a new data center in Springfield, Ohio.

The new cluster is a 50-megawatt, 24,000-chip facility that will deploy AMD's Instinct MI355X graphics processing units, which will be interconnected with ethernet-based fabric that improves data transfer speed and traffic flow.

Vultr is trying to benefit from the AI boom by positioning itself as a cost-effective alternative to hyperscalers, offering computing at lower prices. Vultr CEO J.J. Kardwell said that its cloud infrastructure services are typically half the price of what hyperscalers charge.

The company forecasts the new cluster to go online by early 2026. "We expect the cluster to be sold before it goes live. We also have MI355X GPUs racked in our Chicago region for customer testing and pilots," Kardwell told Reuters in an interview.

In December 2024, Vultr secured a $3.5 billion valuation in a financing round led by LuminArx Capital Management and AMD Ventures, the investment arm of AMD.

The company said it does not yet have clients for the Ohio cluster, but is in active discussions with several companies. Some existing customers, including Chai and LiquidMetal AI, currently utilize Vultr's AMD-powered offerings at other clusters.

Vultr acquires chips from companies such as AMD and Nvidia, and operates them from leased data center spaces.

The firm has provided access to central processing units since 2014. Since integrating GPUs into its services in 2021, AI infrastructure has become the majority contributor to Vultr's revenue over the past two years.

West Palm Beach, Florida-based Vultr is financing the cluster by extending its line of credit with a syndicate that includes Bank of America, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo.

(Reporting by Anhata Rooprai in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)