Intel’s 15 Billion Reasons Why an AI Chip Revolution Has Arrived
AI isn’t just changing internet services, cars, robotics, and healthcare. It’s changing the computer chip market too.
This shift was underlined on Monday when Intel said it would pay $15.3 billion to acquire Mobileye, an Israeli company that makes chips and cameras for cars and trucks, including the self-driving variety. The purchase will be Intel’s second largest ever, following its $16.7 billion billion acquisition of chip-maker Altera in 2015. The Altera buy was also driven, in part, by the recent rise of machine learning, where machine learn can discrete tasks on their own.
These are enormous acquisitions in many respects. After acquiring Mobileye, Intel will move its autonomous driving team to the Mobileye’s headquarters, not vice versa. In other words, Intel is letting Mobileye take over a growing wing of its company. The world’s largest chip maker knows the market is changing rapidly, and it’s determined to change with it.
