Intel purchases Israeli AI chipmaker for $2 billion

Habana will continue to operate as an independent business unit under its current management team and will remain in Israel.

By Meir Orbach, Calcalist

Intel has acquired Tel Aviv-based artificial intelligence chip developer Habana Labs Ltd. for $2 billion, the company announced Monday. Calcalist first reported on the deal earlier this month, citing sources.

Habana will continue to operate as an independent business unit under its current management team and will remain in Israel.

The deal marks Intel’s second-largest acquisition of an Israeli company. In March 2017, Intel announced the acquisition of Jerusalem-headquartered automotive chip developer Mobileye for $15.3 billion.

Intel employs 12,000 people in Israel directly and another 1,100 through its subsidiary Mobileye.

Founded in 2016, Habana Labs develops processors optimized for artificial intelligence applications.

The company was founded by David Dahan and Ran Halutz, both former executives at PrimeSense Limited, acquired by Apple for $360 million in 2013.

Habana had raised $120 million to date, $75 million of the sum in a November 2018 round led by Intel Capital in 2018.

Habana Labs’ first investor and its chairman is Israeli tech entrepreneur Avigdor Willenz, who was one of the founders of Galileo Technologies Ltd., sold in 2001 to Marvell Technology Group Ltd. for $2.7 billion. Willenz also co-founded Annapurna Labs, sold to Amazon for $370 million in 2015.

The company employs a team of 150 people in Israel, Poland, and San Jose, California.

In January, Habana announced it was opening a new research and development facility in Gdańsk, Poland.