Intel Buys Israeli AI Chipmaker for $2 Billion

Photo Credit: Habana Labs

Intel announced on Monday that they just purchased Habana Labs, an Israeli AI chipmaker, for $2 billion, in order to “turbo-charge” Intel’s AI offerings for data centers.

Habana Labs develops programmable deep learning accelerators for the data center.

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The acquisition strengthens Intel’s artificial intelligence (AI) portfolio and accelerates its efforts in the nascent, fast-growing AI silicon market.

In 2019, Intel expects to generate over $3.5 billion in AI-driven revenue, and Intel expects the market to be greater than $25 billion by 2024.

Habana will remain an independent business unit and will continue to be led by its current management team.

Habana chairman Avigdor Willenz has agreed to serve as a senior adviser to the business unit as well as to Intel. Habana will continue to be based in Israel where Intel also has a significant presence and long history of investment. Prior to this transaction, Intel Capital was an investor in Habana.