Intel Corp (INTC.O) introduced a new artificial intelligence processor dubbed Gaudi2 on Tuesday, as the chipmaker makes a stronger push into the AI chip market, which is currently dominated by Nvidia Corp. (NVDA.O).
Gaudi2 is Habana Labs’ second generation CPU, which Intel purchased for $2 billion in late 2019 from an Israeli AI semiconductor firm. As AI computing has become one of the fastest expanding areas for data centres, AI chip firms have received significant funding in recent years.
Many AI researchers and companies are accustomed to utilising Nvidia’s software platform CUDA, so taking market share away from them has been difficult. So, in addition to new chips for AI computing, Intel has been concentrating on software development, according to Reuters.
“CUDA is not a moat that Nvidia can stand on for very long,” said Eitan Medina, chief business officer of Habana Labs, noting that Intel’s software platform is open standard and free to download and use from GitHub, a software development site. “The question now is, who can do the job effectively?”