• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

2

Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster

3

Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place

1

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

2

Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster

3

Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place
TechFortune 500

Intel Wants to Make a Full Court Press on Artificial Intelligence

By
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
Down Arrow Button Icon
November 17, 2016, 7:00 PM ET
Fortune Brainstorm TECH 2016
Fortune Brainstorm TECH 2016 TUESDAY JULY 12TH, 2016: ASPEN, CO 9:15 AM A CHIP FOR EVERY HOME (AND FACTORY AND HOSPITAL) Brian Krzanich, CEO, Intel Interviewer: Adam Lashinsky, Fortune PHOTOGRAPH BY STUART ISETT/Fortune Brainstorm TECHSTUART ISETT/Fortune Brainstorm TECH
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Like many technology companies nowadays, Intel is trying to capitalize on the rise and hype of artificial intelligence.

At a media event Thursday in San Francisco, Intel CEO Bryan Krzanich made the case for why he believes his company’s chip technologies and products are best suited to power the various forms of trendy, cutting-edge data crunching techniques popularized in recent years by companies like Google (GOOG), Facebook (FB), IBM (IBM), and others.

These technology companies have used A.I. techniques like deep learning to train their computers to perform feats like translating text into different languages and recognizing objects in pictures.

Intel (INTC) is betting that more companies beyond just these technology giants will incorporate advanced data analytics into their business—and will need to buy the chips to power the tasks.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

With Intel’s core personal computer chip-making business declining (along with the rest of the PC market), the company has been trying to shift to selling beefier chips that run inside company data centers. At the same time, the company is also trying to build a business around selling chips that power Internet-connected devices, like automobiles or factory equipment.

As Krzanich explained, it’s the flow of information to and from these Internet-connected devices to data centers that he believes will be a big business. It’s the same marketing speech he and Intel have been giving for the past few years, but what’s different now is that the company is heavily emphasizing “artificial intelligence” as a catch all to what companies traditionally consider to be business or data analytics.

Krzanich cited the company’s recent acquisition of chip-makers Movidius for an undisclosed amount and Nervana for $400 million as examples of how Intel is trying to create more advanced chips tailored for powerful data processing. Nervana, for example built specialized chips and software to handle tasks like deep learning.

“The goal of all these acquisitions is to make artificial intelligence pervasive across all of [Intel’s] products,” Krzanich said.

Why Intel Bought Artificial Intelligence Startup Nervana Systems

The investments into artificial intelligence come at a time when Intel is facing increased competition from rival chip maker Nvidia (NVDA), which specializes in a type of technology called a graphics processing unit, or GPU.

Besides powering graphics in video games, GPUs are also used to power the computational heavy tasks of training computers on enormous data sets. As a result, Nvidia has seen its revenue soar over the past year. In its latest quarter, Nvidia’s sales increased 54% year-over-year to $2 billion due in part to selling GPUs to companies.

Still, the company is a much smaller company than Intel. Intel has a market cap of $166 billion while Nvidia has a market cap of $48 billion.

While not a significant threat yet to Intel’s dominance in the data center, the skyrocketing growth of Nvidia represents a possible threat to Intel in the future if more companies buy GPUs to handle data-intensive tasks instead of Intel’s own CPUs.

Indeed, at several times during the Intel event, Krzanich and other Intel executives downplayed the notion of needing to use GPUs to handle the power-hungry task of deep learning. GPUs are “not the only solution out there,” said Krzanich.

How Intel’s Executive VP Got Her Job

Patrick Moorhead, the president of analyst firm Moor Insights & Strategy, told Fortune that Intel’s recent acquisitions, especially its Nervana purchase, makes it more competitive with Nvidia and its line of GPUs if it can create a compelling product that utilizes Nervana’s technology.

Intel is trying to build a chip portfolio around every type of data-crunching task, not only deep learning, Moorhead explained, and its own CPUs are capable of performing the majority of data-crunching businesses require. The only thing Intel lacked, until its past acquisitions, were powerful chips that could compete with Nvidia’s GPUs used by companies like Amazon (AMZN) to train their computers on large quantities of data, he said.

Now, Intel is making a full court press trying to convince businesses that it has the technology necessary to handle all types of trendy data crunching tasks.

Intel’s head of data centers Diane Bryant said the deep learning market is still small, but growing rapidly, and by 2020, the company hopes to have Nervana-blessed chips that are 100 times more powerful than today’s top of the line GPUs. Of course, it’s likely that Nvidia or rival chip maker AMD (AMD) will create more powerful GPUs as well.

“We want to be the trusted leader,” Krzanich said.

About the Author
By Jonathan Vanian
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Jonathan Vanian is a former Fortune reporter. He covered business technology, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data privacy, and other topics.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

Nikesh Arora, chief executive officer at Palo Alto Networks
SuccessJobs
CEO of $248 billion cybersecurity company says workers are about to face a ‘Darwinian moment’ thanks to AI: Evolve or get cut
By Emma BurleighJuly 1, 2026
1 hour ago
Current price of Ethereum for July 1, 2026
Personal FinanceEthereum
Current price of Ethereum for July 1, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 1, 2026
3 hours ago
In this photo illustration, a Cisco logo is displayed on a smartphone with Artificial Intellingence (AI) symbols in the background.
AICFO Daily
Cisco is rolling out AI agents to every single one of its 90,000 employees
By Sheryl EstradaJuly 1, 2026
3 hours ago
senate
CommentaryCongress
One rare bipartisan AI bill is moving through Congress. Here’s why it deserves to pass
By Neil Björkman and Betsy BrewerJuly 1, 2026
5 hours ago
I know how Gen Z can survive the ‘jobpocalypse’ because I built an AI company — in 2015
CommentaryCareers
I know how Gen Z can survive the ‘jobpocalypse’ because I built an AI company — in 2015
By Jeremy FainJuly 1, 2026
5 hours ago
OCBC rolls out its ‘avatar banking’ platform with ‘Wendy’ and ‘Wayne,’ two virtual financial advisors, as banks integrate AI into wealth management
AsiaSingapore
OCBC rolls out its ‘avatar banking’ platform with ‘Wendy’ and ‘Wayne,’ two virtual financial advisors, as banks integrate AI into wealth management
By Angelica AngJuly 1, 2026
5 hours ago

Most Popular

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
Success
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
By Sydney LakeJune 25, 2026
6 days ago
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
Success
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
By Preston ForeJune 27, 2026
4 days ago
Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place
Success
Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place
By Sydney LakeJune 29, 2026
2 days ago
The U.S. Army is opening military bases to private billions — here's why that changes everything for the next 250 years
Commentary
The U.S. Army is opening military bases to private billions — here's why that changes everything for the next 250 years
By Marc AndersenJune 30, 2026
1 day ago
Current price of oil as of June 30 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of June 30 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJune 30, 2026
1 day ago
As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
Big Tech
As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 1, 2026
9 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.