Intel has acquired part of the India-based start-up Ineda Systems. The Hyderabad-based company develops technology for autonomous driving, but the acquisition would actually have an emphasis on the GPU-related skills of about a hundred technicians.

A spokesperson for Intel tells the newspaper that his company has taken over the engineering resources of Ineda Systems, giving Intel an "experienced team in the field of socs to help build a business unit for loose GPUs."

Intel acquired engineering resources from Ineda Systems, a silicon and platform services provider based in Hyderabad. This transaction provides Intel with an experienced SOC (system on chip) team to help build a world-class discrete GPU business,” an Intel spokesperson told TOI. Ineda Systems, which was set up in 2010-11 by Hyderabad based serial entrepreneur Dasaradha Gude, operates in the sphere of autonomous driving, artificial intelligence and IoT.

The startup hit the headlines in 2013-14 for its design and development of low-power Dhanush chips for wearable devices and had raised over $60 million from big-ticket investors, including Samsung Catalyst Fund, Qualcomm Ventures, Walden-Riverwood Ventures, Imagination Technologies, among others, but ran into rough weather after it shifted gears to automotive technologies. Gude, who founded Ineda after he quit as AMD India managing director, remained an investor in Ineda though he went on to set up Invecas in 2014 and regained 100% stake in Ineda in Nov 2018. Intel, which has a few hundred engineers engaged in software development in Hyderabad, is also planning to set up a global technology centre in Hyderabad housing around 1,500 engineers initially, which may be ramped up to 5,000 people, as per an announcement made by then IT minister KT Rama Rao’s office in Nov 2018.

Intel Buys Indian Startup To Gain Discrete GPU Tech Expertise