Intel acquires Nervana Systems

Tech giant Intel has acquired California based deep learning start-up Nervana Systems run by an Indian origin Entrepreneur, allowing the chip maker to foray into the world of Artificial Intelligence. Nervana has a fully optimized software and hardware stack for deep learning.

Nervana Engine and silicon expertise will advance Intel AI portfolio and enhance the deep learning performance. Intel has the best semiconductor technology in the world. Nervana AI expertise combined with Intel capabilities and huge market reach will allow Intel to realize vision and create something truly special. Intel will apply Nervana software expertise to further optimize the Intel Math Kernel Library and its integration into industry standard frameworks.

With this deal, Intel will now shatter the old paradigm and move into a new regime of computing. The semiconductor integrated circuit is one of humanity crowning achievements. Intel is one of the world largest and highest valued semiconductor chip makers based on revenue. Buy selling to Intel, Nervana has access to technology.

Western Digital to buy SanDisk

Western Digital Corp, agreed to buy SanDisk Corp. for about $19 Billion in cash and stock, a deal that positions the disk drive maker for growth in the struggling storage industry. SanDisk was thought to be shopping for a buyer as the semiconductor industry rapidly consolidates and industry watchers had said Western Digital or Micron Technology Inc. would be logical bidders.

Western Digital is facing challenges to its core hard disk drive business, which has been under pressure from the success of sales of Apple Inc. iPad and other tablet computers that store data on flash memory chips rather than on magnetic disks. Those devices have long weighed on the sales growth of consumer laptop computers, which are major users of disk drives. Acquiring SanDisk could be a hedge and a driver of new growth.

The acquisition comes about three weeks after an arm of China Tsinghua Unigroup Ltd. agreed to pay $3.78 Billion for a 15% stake in Western Digital, the latest US tech company to scramble for politically connected Chinese partners amid the difficult business environment. SanDisk had benefited from the explosive growth in demand for products such as smartphones.

But its results have lagged behind recently amid a variety of problems, from product qualification delays to lower than expected sales of enterprise products. The deal is expected to add to earnings within 12 months of closing and it will achieve synergies of $500 Million within 18 months.

Aricent Acquires SmartPlay

Aricent Inc., a US based company providing Software and engineering services, has acquired Bangalore based Chip design services firm SmartPlay Technologies Pvt. Ltd. for around $180 Million. This is one of the biggest acquisitions in the semiconductor space in India. It is also Aricent fifth and the biggest ever acquisition in the country.

SmartPlay has around 1,200 employees in India, Germany, Singapore and the US. The acquisition will also expand Aricent 10,000 strong engineering team, which caters to nine core industries including telecommunications, networking, consumer electronics, industrial automation, semiconductor, automotive, internet services, consumer and enterprise software, media and entertainment.

The acquisition follows France based Technology consulting firm Altran acquisition of India based SiCon Design Technologies last month and the acquisition of Bengaluru based Cosmic Circuits in 2013 by Cadence Design Systems of the US, and demonstrates India’s growing and deep strengths in semiconductor design. SmartPlay was founded in 2008.

Aricent started in late 1990s as Hughes Software, a firm that was acquired by Flextronics International. In 2006, private equity major Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co. acquired a majority stake in the venture and renamed it Aricent. Aricent previously acquired four other Indian firms – FutureSoft, Emuzed, Deccanet and Tenet Technologies. 

Intel in talks to buy Altera

Intel Corporation is an American Multinational corporation headquartered in Santa Clara, California. Intel is one of the world largest and highest valued semiconductor chip makers, based on revenue. It is the inventor of x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most personal computers. Altera Corporation is an American manufacturer of Programmable Logic Devices (PLD), reconfigurable complex digital circuits. The company released its first PLD in 1984.

People with knowledge of matter said that, Intel is in talks to acquire Altera. Altera shares jumped 28% to $44.39 at the close in New York, giving the company a valuation of about $13.4 Billion. Intel rose 6.4% to $32. Intel is on the hunt for growth as it faces a slowdown in the market for PCs that forced a $1 Billion cut in its first quarter sales forecast earlier this month. This decline comes on top of heavy losses in Intel’s mobile division. The group reported an operating loss of $4.21 Billion in 2014.

A bright spot for Intel is the data center group, where profits soared to $7.28 Billion on sales of $14.4 Billion in 2014. The company benefited from a boom in the amount of data being generated and held in computing centers around the world. Altera makes a broad range of low power semiconductors, which are used in small embedded devices and computer servers for big data centers.

In buying Altera, Intel could expand into markets for automotive, industrial and communication applications, while cementing its leads in data centers. Intel and Altera announced a manufacturing partnership in Feb 2013, agreeing that Altera chips would be made in Intel’s cutting edge plants.