(Yicai Global) July 13 -- US chipmaker Intel has launched a second-generation artificial intelligence accelerator chipset for the Chinese market.

Habana Gaudi2 can be used to accelerate AI training and interface, the Santa Clara-based firm announced on July 11. Leading Chinese server providers Inspur Electronic Information Industry, H3C Technologies, and xFusion Digital Technologies are among Intel’s partners for the product.

Gaudi2 was developed by Habana Labs, an AI and deep learning computing firm that Intel acquired in December 2019 for USD2 billion. It is the only chip together with Nvidia’s products that can run GPT-3, the model ChatGPT is based on, according to the results of MLPerf Training 3.0, an AI performance benchmark released by MLCommons at the end of June.

In the past six months, AI accelerator chips have suddenly become popular again because of AI models, Sandra Rivera, executive vice president of Intel and general manager of the company’s data center and artificial intelligence business, told Yicai Global on July 11.

Intel will invest more resources for the next step so that local teams can accelerate the completion of products for the Chinese market, she added.

More customized products for the Chinese market will be launched in the future under the condition of legal compliance, Rivera said, noting that they will not be discounted compared with the international version, as their overall performance is basically the same.

In addition to chipmakers like Intel and Nvidia, startups such as Wave Computing, Groq, Cambricon Technologies, and Bitmain Technologies also joined the competition by successfully launching AI chips and hardware systems. According to incomplete statistics, more than 30 AI chip manufacturers are engaged in the AI model field.

Editor: Futura Costaglione