Cloud-to-edge AI chip Kunlun repositions Baidu in AI market

Search engine giant Baidu has recently unveiled China's first cloud-to-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip--Kunlun--at Baidu Create 2018. The move repositions the company in not only the Chinese market but also globally, says leading data and analytics company GlobalData. With Kunlun, Baidu joins the ranks of a select few companies that not only offer an AI platform to help enterprises deploy AI-infused solutions but also have their own hardware to maximize AI processing. Built to accommodate the high performance requirements of a wide variety of AI scenarios, Kunlun includes training chip '818-300' and inference chip '818-100'. Rena Bhattacharyya, Technology Analyst at GlobalData, says: "Well-established players such as IBM, Microsoft, Google and Amazon are fine-tuning their AI platforms to make it easier and faster for customers to incorporate a wide range of AI technologies. Although already an ambitious player in China, Baidu had not managed to establish itself as a major force in the AI space until now. The Kunlun chip has the potential to change that."