Nvidia announced plans Wednesday to acquire Israeli AI startup Run:ai. While Nvidia didn’t disclose the terms of its coming transaction, an Israeli newspaper Calcalist reported that the chipmaker will buy Run:ai for $700 million in “the coming days.”
Run:ai is a software company that essentially helps developers run their AI applications more efficiently. Founded in 2018, it today has partnerships with top tech companies including Microsoft and Amazon. Run:ai has worked with Nvidia for several years, and the acquisition will allow the AI chipmaker’s customers to use the compute power of multiple GPUs (graphics processing units) at once for separate AI applications, the company said in its announcement.
“Run:ai has been a close collaborator with NVIDIA since 2020 and we share a passion for helping our customers make the most of their infrastructure,” said Run:ai cofounder and CEO Omri Geller. “We’re thrilled to join NVIDIA and look forward to continuing our journey together.”
Nvidia is the leading supplier of graphics processing units to big tech companies such as Meta, Microsoft, and Google, powering AI applications from companies’ datacenters. Nvidia’s purchase of Run:ai would be one of its biggest acquisitions since it bought Mellanox Technologies, another Israel-based business, in 2019 for $7 billion. Nvidia’s customers have also purchased a number of AI startups over the past few years, with Apple leading the pack.
Nvidia’s purchase of Run:ai also marks its growing presence in Israel, where the company already has about 4,000 employees, according to the Times of Israel.
More on Nvidia
Nvidia dominates the AI chip market. Here’s how that could change
Apple, Amazon, Nvidia, and other Big Tech stocks could see their profit growth ‘collapse,’ UBS says
Watch: Will Nvidia and the AI boom lead to a nuclear energy boom?