- Some analysts have questioned whether Intel's $2 billion purchase of the Israel-based Habana Labs means its AI strategy is struggling.
- But one longtime industry analyst said the purchase was a bid to challenge the dominance of the chipmaker Nvidia in building the infrastructure that powers advanced machine-learning platforms.
- The acquisition, J.Gold Associates founder Jack Gold said, allows Intel to compete in the deep-learning industry, a branch of AI that hopes to replicate how the human brain works.
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Intel's $2 billion purchase of the Israel-based artificial-intelligence startup Habana Labs is a challenge to the chipmaker Nvidia's dominance in offering the processors needed to power advanced machine-learning platforms, according to one longtime industry analyst.
That market has largely been controlled by Nvidia — which makes more high-end graphics processors that work well in supporting AI applications. But the purchase of Habana Labs positions Intel to challenge that dominance, Jack Gold, the 25-year industry analyst who founded J.Gold Associates, said.
"Intel is betting big on AI's future. It's going to be a huge market in the next several years as the overall computing market is transformed by what AI can accomplish from low-end mobile devices all the way to high-end data centers in the cloud," he wrote in a recent research note.
Deep learning, or the branch of AI focused on replicating how the human brain functions, allows machines to operate essentially like a human would. The problem, however, is Intel previously did not have processors powerful enough for the technology.
Intel purchased Nervana in August 2016, a startup chipmaker that was expected to help serve as the backbone to the company's AI strategy. While some analysts argued that buying Habana Labs was an acknowledgement that "Nervana is not going that well," Gold said Intel was targeting two different markets.
Habana Labs allows Intel to compete in the high-end market, while Nervana will allow it to target the mid-to-lower-tier devices, he said. Intel used Nervana, for example, in its Neural Compute Stick — a plug-in device that powers PCs to use AI. Habana Labs, meanwhile, will allow Intel to penetrate the deep-learning market.
Gold told Business Insider he thought Intel would use both purchases to help support its "One API" project, an initiative to create an open-source platform that will allow developers to create programs that operate on any platform. They must build the programs to run on a specific piece of hardware — whether that be from Nvidia or another competitor.
