The start-up is led by former Qualcomm researcher Naveen Rao.

AB Wire

The chip giant Intel announced a deal to buy an artificial intelligence start-up run by an Indian origin entrepreneur, on Tuesday.

Intel acquired the start-up, Nervana Systems, which was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in San Diego, California, in deal that valued at around $408 million as the computer chip colossus looks to broaden its role in data centres and the expanding internet of things.

The start-up is led by former Qualcomm researcher Naveen Rao and it has raised around $25 million in venture funding. Nervana had open-sourced its Neon deep learning software last year. The company will join Intel’s Data Centre Group after the deal is closed.

“We will apply Nervana’s software expertise to further optimise the Intel Math Kernel Library and its integration into industry standard frameworks,” said Diana Bryant, Executive Vice President, Data Centre Group, Intel, in a statement on Wednesday.

Bryant explained, “Nervana’s Engine and silicon expertise will advance Intel’s Al portfolio and enhance the deep learning performance and TOC of our Intel Xeon and Intel Xeon Phi processors. . .Nervana’s IP and expertise in accelerating deep learning algorithms will expand Intel’s capabilities in the field of AI.”

According to Rao, the deal did not reflect any hurdles in getting more capital to stay independent.

“Raising money was not the problem. That was going to be relatively easy but by selling to Intel we have access to technology we’d never dream about,” said Rao.