Intel has bought Israeli AI chip startup Habana Labs for USD 2 billion, following reports the sale would run to USD 1 billion. The startup, which develops programmable deep learning accelerators, will become part of Intel’s artificial intelligence (AI) portfolio and push the company’s efforts in the AI silicon market, which Intel expects will be worth over USD 25 billion by 2024.
The company will remain an independent business unit based in Israel, within the Data Platforms Group, and continue under its current management team. Habana chairman Avigdor Willenz will serve as a senior adviser to the business unit as well as to Intel. Navin Shenoy, the GM of Data Platforms Group at Intel, said the deal will “turbo-charge” the company’s our AI offerings for the data centre with a high-performance training processor family and a standards-based programming environment to address evolving AI workloads.
Intel said it expects to generate over 3.5 billion worth of AI-driven revenue this year, up 20 percent from the year before. Habana’s Gaudi AI Training Processor is currently sampling with select hyperscale customers. The new Gaudi chip was launched in June.
