Taco Bell’s fast food restaurant and drive-thru at dusk in Gastonia, North Carolina.
Jeff Greenberg | Universal Image Group | Getty Images
Two chipmakers are teaming up.
Yam Brand Partnered with Tech Giant nvidia To accelerate the use of artificial intelligence in restaurants.
The restaurant company that owns Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut said on Tuesday that the collaboration will allow Yum to deploy AI orders that will AI order computer vision and restaurant performance ratings powered by AI-fueled NVIDIA.
As Tech Giants compete in AI Arms Race, restaurant companies are using this technology to advance their rivals by improving their operations and saving their workforce. Fast food chains test AI to take drive-thru orders, check order accuracy, determine how to schedule workers effectively, and place supply orders.
Many restaurant chains other than Yam are looking for partnerships with tech giants. McDonald’s teamed up with Google Cloud and Wendy’s Partners with supply chain cooperatives Palantiramong other transactions. However, not all partnerships are successful. McDonald’s ended its collaboration with IBM in June, but Burger Giant said IBM has remained a “trusted partner.”
The partnership is Nvidia’s first with the restaurant company. It also shows changes in Yum’s strategy. It currently uses numerous acquisitions to build internal technology operations housed on the byte platform. Yum owns intelligence from partnerships and allows the company to customize it as needed, including integrating more advanced AI models.
Yum has already piloted Nvidia technology at several Pizza Huts and Taco Bell locations. The widespread deployment of technology is expected to hit more than 500 restaurants across Yam’s portfolio in the second quarter.
The terms of the Nvidia partnership have not been disclosed, but Yum said it is “a subject to a decisive agreement that is mutually comfortable.”
Nvidia’s shares have risen 35% over the past year, while Yum’s shares have risen 14% over the same period. Nvidia’s stocks have lost more steam than concerns about competition and the broader economy, but investors remain largely bullish with AI.
Nvidia’s market capitalization is Yum’s market capitalization of $2.9 trillion, with a market capitalization of $43.8 billion.
