
At the recent Open Compute Project (OCP) event, AMD introduced its innovative Helios ‘rack-scale’ platform, illustrating the company’s strategic vision for its forthcoming AI solutions.
AMD’s Helios Rack Platform: A Competitive Force Against NVIDIA’s Rubin Lineup
During the Advancing AI 2025 event, AMD emphasized its commitment to enhancing rack-scale solutions, stating that the ‘Helios’ platform is designed to compete directly with NVIDIA’s Rubin series. The OCP showcase featured a static display of the Helios rack, engineered to adhere to the Open Rack Wide (ORW) specification initiated by Meta. While specific details about Helios remain scarce, AMD expressed strong confidence in its potential to emerge as a formidable product in the market.
With ‘Helios, ’ we’re turning open standards into real, deployable systems — combining AMD Instinct GPUs, EPYC CPUs, and open fabrics to give the industry a flexible, high-performance platform built for the next generation of AI workloads.– AMD’s EVP and GM, Data Center Solutions Group
Delving deeper into the Helios platform, it is expected to incorporate cutting-edge technologies such as the EPYC Venice CPUs and Instinct MI400 AI accelerators. For its networking capabilities, the platform will utilize AMD’s Pensando technology aimed at enhancing scalability. During the OCP presentation, AMD highlighted its strategy to focus on an open stack of technologies, employing UALink for scale-up and UEC Ethernet for scale-out purposes. Furthermore, Helios is equipped with a quick-disconnect liquid cooling system, allowing for high-density setups while simplifying maintenance and servicing processes.

The unveiling of the Helios system included images revealing a ‘double wide’ ORW rack configuration, featuring a central equipment bay alongside dedicated service spaces. Notably, horizontal compute sleds make up a significant portion of the rack, resembling NVIDIA’s KYBER approach; these sleds occupy about 70–80% of the available space. The dual fiber connections—termed ‘Aqua’ and ‘Yellow’—serve distinct purposes, showcasing exceptional cable management and routing within the rack.
Historically, NVIDIA has faced little competition in the rack-scale market; however, with the introduction of AMD’s Helios, the landscape is poised for significant change. AMD’s efforts to challenge NVIDIA’s Rubin rack-scale platform are not just ambitious but highlight the escalating rivalry in the AI sector. The Helios display at OCP was an unexpected reveal that signals robust competition ahead.
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