US: Intel buys Israeli AI startup Habana Labs for $2B

Intel has bought Israel-based artificial intelligence (AI) firm Habana Labs for about $2 billion, the chipmaker said on Monday, seeking to expand its AI portfolio to bolster its data-center business, reported Reuters.

Intel expects the fast-growing AI chip market to exceed $25 billion by 2024, with its own AI-driven revenues this year seen rising 20% from 2018 to more than $3.5 billion. 

Intel has increasingly been depending on sales to data centers as PC sales stagnate. 

Habana, an AI processor firm, was founded in 2016 and has offices in Tel Aviv, San Jose, Beijing and Gdansk, Poland. It has raised $120 million to date, including $75 million in a funding round led by Intel Capital last year. 

The deal follows a string of AI-related acquisitions by Intel in recent years, including Movidius, Nervana, Altera and Mobileye. 

Navin Shenoy, who oversees Intel’s data center group, told Reuters in an interview that each set of chips is designed to solve a different problem, whether it is helping cars drive themselves or training machine-learning algorithms in data centers.