Theta Labs has signed a multi-year agreement with Seoul Women’s University to give its AI research lab access to Theta EdgeCloud’s decentralized GPU computing power.
As stated in a press release shared with crypto.news, the partnership will enable SWU’s AI to Everything lab to leverage Theta EdgeCloud’s decentralized network of GPUs, reducing costs and increasing computing power for their AI research in healthcare, bioinformatics and finance.
Built on top of the Theta Network (THETA), Theta EdgeCloud is a DePIN-powered hybrid cloud-edge computing platform. It uses more than 30,000 distributed nodes to provide scalable, cost-effective GPU computing resources for AI, media and entertainment applications, allowing users to benefit from a global network of decentralized computing power. Last year, the project secured a $1 million investment from venture capital firm DWF Labs.
According to Theta Labs, the collaboration with SWU’s AIX labs is an example of how decentralized physical infrastructure networks solve real-world problems.
Reducing costs in AI research
Faced with the rising costs of GPUs for AI research, universities are finding traditional methods, such as maintaining in-house GPU clusters or using expensive cloud services, increasingly untenable. Theta Labs CEO Mitch Liu notes that Theta EdgeCloud provides a solution by reducing these costs by “50-70%” and increasing research productivity fivefold.
“The message from universities is unanimous: GPU access for AI research is a major financial and logistical hurdle […] By lowering these barriers and accelerating setup times, we drive innovation across the AI ecosystem, benefiting everyone in the field,” Liu told crypto.news.
Professor Minseo Park, who will lead the collaboration, stated that Theta’s decentralized GPU network would bridge the gap between “academic ambitions and practical limitations,” with the collaboration marking an “important step in the democratization of AI research.”
“By tapping into this shared resource, our students and academic team can focus on pushing the boundaries of AI applications without limitations.”
Minseo Park, assistant professor in SWU’s AI department.
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The PIN sector sees growth
The multi-year agreement with SWU builds on Theta Labs’ previous partnerships with Daejon-based KAIST University, which uses Theta EdgeCloud for computer vision and natural language processing, and Seoul-based Yonsei University for AI model training. This new partnership with SWU further strengthens Theta EdgeCloud’s growing footprint in academia.
Meanwhile, the DePIN sector has been rapidly gaining traction in the crypto space, with Messari predicting its market value will reach $3.5 trillion by 2028. With its ability to eliminate middlemen and empower users, DePIN is emerging as one of the most promising technologies.
As reported by crypto.news, early-stage DePIN projects have attracted significant venture capital funding this year, raising more than $246 million across 70 deals by August 2024. The growth marked an increase of 296% year-on-year.
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