Intel Spins Out AI Firm Articul8, With DigitalBridge Backing

Intel has launched, along with global investment firm DigitalBridge Group, an AI software firm called Articul8 AI Inc. (Articul8).

Intel announced the spin off of its AI efforts into Articul8 and said it would be “an independent company offering enterprise customers a full-stack, vertically-optimised and secure generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) software platform.”

Intel had been investing heavily into the AI field as it sought to take the fight to AI chip market leader Nvidia, amidst a boom in the artificial intelligence sector that has spurred frenzied competition.

Articul8 spin-off

According to Intel, Articul8 will offer a “platform delivers AI capabilities that keep customer data, training and inference within the enterprise security perimeter. The platform also provides customers the choice of cloud, on-prem or hybrid deployment.”

The chip giant admitted that Articul8 was created with intellectual property (IP) and technology developed at Intel, and the two companies “will remain strategically aligned on go-to-market opportunities and collaborate on driving GenAI adoption in the enterprise.”

Arun Subramaniyan, formerly vice president and general manager in Intel’s Data Centre and AI Group, has assumed leadership of Articul8 as its CEO.

“With its deep AI and HPC domain knowledge and enterprise-grade GenAI deployments, Articul8 is well positioned to deliver tangible business outcomes for Intel and our broader ecosystem of customers and partners,” said Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel. “As Intel accelerates AI everywhere, we look forward to our continued collaboration with Articul8.”

DigitalBridge Ventures served as lead investor of Articul8.

In addition, Intel, along with a syndicate of established venture investors, including Fin Capital, Mindset Ventures, Communitas Capital, GiantLeap Capital, GS Futures and Zain Group, have taken an equity stake in the company.

There was no financial disclosure of the value of the deal, or of the funding amounts involved.

It is also not clear if Intel would retain a majority stake in the new venture.

“Every global enterprise today is challenged to integrate GenAI capabilities into their workflows. Articul8 has built a scalable and easy-to-deploy GenAI software platform that is already enabling enterprises to unlock value from their proprietary data,” said Marc Ganzi, DigitalBridge CEO. “We see GenAI as a pivotal force driving digital infrastructure, and we are pleased to collaborate with Intel to support Articul8’s growth.”

According to Intel, Articul8 offers a turnkey GenAI software platform that delivers speed, security and cost-efficiency to help large enterprise customers operationalise and scale AI.

The platform was launched and optimised on Intel hardware architectures, including Intel Xeon Scalable processors and Intel Gaudi accelerators, but will support a range of hybrid infrastructure alternatives.

Independent entity

According to Intel, as an independent company supported by industry investment, Articul8 will be able to accelerate its go-to-market strategy and scale its product offerings for the broader GenAI ecosystem.

This is not the first firm that Intel has spun out.

The chip giant spun out and publicly listed the car chip firm Mobileye Global, after acquiring it for $15.3 billion in 2017.

Intel has also spun off its programmable chip unit and plans an eventual initial public offering.