Intel acquires deep learning startup Nervana in $408 million

Intel is placing a huge bet on the next big thing of technology orb – Artificial Intelligence, which is transforming the way businesses operate and how people engage with the world. Intel, a company that powers the cloud and billions of smart, connected computing devices, has acquired deep learning startup Nervana Systems for more than $400 million, which is even more than what Apple paid to buy Turi.

As per Recode report, the deal was valued at around $408 million, however, both the companies have not disclosed the amount.

With Nervana's expertise in developing systems with a hardware-centric approach — integrating machine learning capabilities directly with hardware into silicon chips instead of a software - Intel aims to boost innovation in order to further cement its position as leading chip maker, with help from AI and machine learning.

Vice President and General Manager of the Data Center Group at Intel, Diane Bryant wrote in a blog post, "We will apply Nervana’s software expertise to further optimize the Intel Math Kernel Library and its integration into industry-standard frameworks. Nervana’s Engine and silicon expertise will advance Intel’s AI portfolio and enhance the deep learning performance and TCO of our Intel Xeon and Intel Xeon Phi processors."

Furthermore, Intel also plans to expand the scope to build chips with self-learning capabilities for smart devices such as wearables, self-driving vehicles to further improve IoT systems.

Intel powers more than 97 percent of servers deployed to support machine learning workloads today. The Intel Xeon processor E5 family is the most widely deployed processor for deep learning inference and the recently launched Intel Xeon Phi processor delivers the scalable performance needed for deep learning training. While less than 10 percent of servers worldwide were deployed in support of machine learning last year, the capabilities and insights it enables makes machine learning the fastest growing form of AI.

The two-year-old startup, Nervana System, which has quickly made its name among leaders in developing machine learning technologies, was founded by former Qualcomm researcher Naveen Rao. The startup has raised more than $25 million in funding from investors like Data Collective, DFJ, Allen & Co, Fuel Capital, and Lux Capital.

Through this collaboration, Nervana plans to rapidly advance its existing capabilities and enter into a wider market. It is developing specialized chips which can transfer data in and out at 2.4 terabytes per second. These chips also have a very low latency rate that is five to 10 times faster than the fastest input-output interfaces for traditional chips.

Commenting on the current wave of artificial intelligence among major tech companies, Intel VP, Jason Waxman says, "I firmly believe this is not only the next wave but something that will dwarf the last wave. This is a real thing at Baidu; this is a real thing at Google. They are using deep learning techniques. It is not just papers anymore."