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Intel plans to make big moves in the market for AI-powered enterprise software, forming a new platform company backed by Boca Raton, Florida-based asset manager and investor DigitalBridge.
Called Articul8 AI (an odd acronym for “Articulate AI”), the new entity developed a proof-of-concept in collaboration with Intel with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) as early as last May. Reuters reports that Intel, using its own hardware and a combination of open-source and internally sourced software, built an innovative AI system that can read text and images — to meet BCG’s security needs. running within BCG’s data centers for
The system was developed within Intel over the course of a year or two. But according to CRN, it was recently fine-tuned for the specific use of BCG.
Initially, BCG was the sole go-to-market supplier and consumer of the system. However, in the past few months, Intel has worked to scale the platform — which is optimized for Intel hardware but supports alternatives — to companies in financial services, aerospace, semiconductor, telecommunications and other industries. which “requires a high level of security and specialized domain knowledge,” according to an Intel spokesperson.
“Articul8’s gen AI software product was built from the ground up to meet the needs of enterprises and is optimized for speed of deployment, scalability, security and sustainability,” a spokesperson told TechCrunch via email. is — including costs,” the spokesperson told TechCrunch via email. The Article 8 platform provides AI capabilities that keep customer data, training and inference within the realm of enterprise security. The platform also offers users a choice of cloud on-prem or hybrid deployments.
Arun Subramanian, previously VP and GM in Intel’s data center and AI group, will become CEO of the spinout. The rest of the Article 8 team will also be made up of former Intel employees, and Intel will retain an undisclosed stake in the firm.
Beyond Intel and DigitalBridge, which is publicly traded and a major investor in data centers, Articul8 investors include Fin Capital, Mindset Ventures, Communitas Capital, GiantLeap Capital, GS Futures and Zain Group.
“Intel and Article 8 will continue to be strategically aligned and leverage Article 8’s enterprise general AI software for Intel internal use cases as well as end users as part of a joint go-to-market partnership,” the spokesperson said. intends to present as.” “This collaboration will enhance the consumption of Intel Compute offerings. [and] Intel will continue to leverage Articul8’s AI domain knowledge and expertise as Intel expands its footprint in the creative AI market.”
Reuters notes that Intel’s move to launch Article 8 is its latest attempt to seek outside capital for business units. The chipmaker spun out car chip firm Mobileye, sold its memory chip division and plans an eventual initial public offering of its programmable chip unit.
The spinouts are part of Intel’s strategy to raise capital for CEO Pat Gelsinger’s comeback plan, which includes building new chip factories in the U.S. and Europe as well as new advanced chip manufacturing over the next four years. Involves introducing nodes. In particular, Article 8 fits into Gelsinger’s plans to deliver new software products and services — including GenAI-powered products — that compete with rivals like Nvidia and AMD and bring applications to Intel hardware.