Intel Unveils Plans for Artificial-Intelligence Chips

Intel Corp. INTC -0.54 % signaled it wants a bigger role in artificial intelligence, revealing plans to modify a line of chips to target a fast-growing market turning into a battleground for technology suppliers. The company told technology developers Wednesday that it plans next year to deliver a new version of the Xeon Phi processor--a product line previously targeted at scientific applications--with added features designed to accelerate tasks associated with what Silicon Valley calls artificial intelligence. Intel said the technology will help accelerate a technique called deep learning, increasingly used for tasks such as interpreting speech, identifying objects in photos and piloting autonomous vehicles. Intel's Xeon processors already are a fixture in data centers, and have a role in nearly all deep-learning tasks carried out there. But some users also install auxiliary processors for artificial-intelligence tasks, notably chips called GPUs that rival Nvidia Corp. NVDA -2.32 % has long sold for videogames.