Google Cloud now has a dedicated cluster of Nvidia GPUs for Y Combinator startups
Google Cloud is giving Y Combinator startups access to a dedicated, subsidized cluster of Nvidia graphics processing units and Google tensor processing units to build AI models. It’s part of Google Cloud’s effort to cozy up with promising early-stage AI startups, in hopes some of them will evolve into massive, compute-hungry businesses.
“We want to surround them with a lot of love and warmth early in their life cycle so they get familiarized with building and working on the Google Cloud Platform,” said general manager for Google Cloud’s startups and AI business, James Lee, in an interview with TechCrunch. “As they stick around, we grow as they grow, and we become a partner of theirs throughout their life cycle.”
Specifically, Google will provide a dedicated cluster with priority access for YC’s Summer 2024 startups, along with $350,000 in cloud credits over two years for each participating startup. The idea is that a future unicorn will fall in love with building on Google Cloud. Five percent of Y Combinator startups over the last 18 years have become unicorns with billion-dollar-plus valuations, YC group partner Diana Hu tells TechCrunch, so it’s a decent bet for Google to make on this partnership.
