Chipset manufacturer, Intel Corp has acquired Israel based AI firm Habana Labs for approximately $2 billion to bolster its AI (artificial intelligence) offerings for data centers. In an initiative to differentiate its silicon offerings and expanding the new AI market, the acquisition is intended to accelerate the AI product development. However, the acquisition of Habana Labs by Intel will not change the nature of the company; it will still remain the independent company as it was previously and will report to the Data Platform Groups division that houses the AI technologies of Intel. The newly-acquired company will have 120 staff spread across the headquarters in Israel, the US, China and Poland.
The general manager and executive vice president of the Data Platforms Group at Intel, Navin Shenoy said in this regard, “Habana turbo-charges our AI offerings for the data center with a high-performance training processor family and a standards-based programming environment to address evolving AI workloads.”
He also said that Intel’s AI chips can now be used in self-driven cars as well as in data centers for learning machine algorithms. The acquisition is expected to speed up more accurate AI features for technology like speech and photo recognition. With this new acquisition, Intel has innovative plans to implement in reconnecting damaged nerves which will be of great help for paralyzed patients. AI can also be used to control wheelchairs just with the help of facial recognition.
