Intel Bets Big on Deep Learning: Artificial intelligence startup Nervana Systems was founded in 2014 claims to have developed a fully-optimized software and hardware stack for deep learning. Now the company has been acquired by Intel in a deal rivaling Google’s recent purchase of DeepMind, the company behind the historic AlphaGo victory.
Intel will pay a reported $408 million for the company founded by Naveen Rao. Nervana System is due to release what it is calling Nervana Engine, a deep-learning-focused, application-specific integrated circuit sometime next year.
Training deep learning networks involves moving a lot of data, The Nervana Engine is purpose-built to overcome the shortcomings of memory technology using a new system called High Bandwidth Memory that is both high-capacity and high-speed, providing 32 GB of on-chip storage and fast 8 Tera-bits per second of memory access speed.
Nervana Engine. The start up’s technology and expertise will help Intel expand its capabilities in artificial intelligence, according to Diane Bryant, executive vice president and general manager of Intel’s Data Center Group.
According to Bryant,
At Intel we believe in the power of collaboration: the goodness inherent in exchanging fresh ideas and diverse points of view. We believe that bringing together the Intel engineers who create the Intel Xeon and Intel Xeon Phi processors with the talented Nervana Systems’ team, we will be able to advance the industry faster than would have otherwise been possible. We will continue to invest in leading edge technologies that complement and enhance Intel’s AI portfolio.