Google Cloud now provides a dedicated cluster of Nvidia GPUs for the Y Combinator firms

Google Cloud is giving Y Combinator startups access to subsidized Nvidia GPUs and dedicated clusters of Google Tensor processing units to build their AI models, part of Google Cloud's efforts to connect with promising early-stage AI startups, some of which it hopes will grow into huge, compute-intensive companies. "We want to give them a lot of love and warmth early in their lifecycle to get them used to developing and working on Google Cloud Platform," James Lee, general manager of Google Cloud's startup and AI business, told TechCrunch. "As long as they stay, we'll grow with them and partner with them throughout their lifecycle."

Specifically, Google will provide YC startups with priority access to a dedicated cluster in the summer of 2024, as well as $350,000 in cloud credits over two years for each participating startup. The idea is that future unicorns fall in love with the creation of Google Cloud. Google is a decent bet on this partnership because Google, a partner of the YC DIENA HU Group, has reported that 5 % of Y startups in the past 18 years are $ 1 billion. 。 "I'm excited that the next -generation startup of the decacorn, not just unicorns, is built when we speak," Hu said. "Cloud suppliers are still catching up in terms of price, but I know that if they are very fast, they will overcome the waves with them."

On the other hand, the Y combinator says that providing generous calculation resources and their investment and advice can apply more AI startups. For the early AI startup, HU says that one of the most common problems she is listening to is limited to startups. Large companies can conclude multiple years and large -scale contracts with cloud suppliers to access the GPU, but small startups are often dry. She says that such a partnership is very far away, especially if there is a special cluster. This is especially important for the formation of AI models. “For GPU and AI workloads, they’re more like high-performance compute workloads in batch mode. You don’t need a server running all the time, but you need a lot of servers when there’s a peak,” Hu said. “So we have a dedicated cluster that YC companies can just use.”

As part of the partnership, Google will also offer YC startups $12,000 in advanced support credits and a free year of Google Workspace Business Plus. YC startups can also connect with Google's in-house AI experts during monthly office hours. Startup accelerators and venture capital firms are now increasingly offering GPU clusters. Andreessen Horowitz is reportedly stocking 20,000 GPUs in order to attract AI startups, and while Google Cloud and Y Combinator haven't disclosed the exact figure for the deal, Hu said it's enough for YC's top modeling firms to train their models.