Amazon has agreed to acquire Perceive, a chip maker and AI model compression company, for $80 million in cash. Perceive, based in San Jose, Calif., is a subsidiary of Xperi, a publicly traded technology company. The deal is structured as an asset purchase agreement and is expected to close by the end of the year. Perceive specializes in technology that allows large artificial intelligence models to run on edge devices, which typically have limited power, processing capabilities, connectivity, and storage. Most of Perceive’s 44 employees are expected to join Amazon after the acquisition.
Amazon has not provided specific details on its plans for the technology acquired from Perceive. However, the company expressed enthusiasm about bringing the Perceive team on board to help develop large language models and multi-modal experiences for devices capable of running on the edge. This acquisition aligns with Amazon’s existing investments in edge technologies and custom silicon to enhance the performance and speed of its devices, as well as its work in large language models and multi-modal experiences. Amazon also stated that it does not anticipate the need for regulatory approval for this acquisition.
The acquisition of Perceive is part of Amazon’s Devices & Services division, which includes products like Alexa voice assistant, Fire TV, and Echo smart speakers. Perceive, led by co-CEOs Murali Dharan and Steve Teig, has employees in various locations, including the U.S., Canada, Ireland, Romania, and Estonia. The company’s lab in Boise, Idaho, is expected to remain operational after the acquisition. The vast majority of Perceive’s employees are likely to join Amazon’s Devices & Services team after the deal closes, either at existing Amazon sites near their current locations or remotely.
Xperi had been looking to sell Perceive since earlier in the year and decided to pursue strategic alternatives for the company. The landscape for edge inference technology has evolved since Perceive’s inception, and Xperi CEO Jon Kirchner expressed confidence that Amazon would be able to take Perceive’s technology to the next level. Competition in the edge AI computing space includes startups like Axelera and Halio, who have also attracted significant investments. Regulators have been closely scrutinizing AI deals between tech giants and smaller startups, as evidenced by Amazon’s previous interactions with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission related to its hiring and licensing deals.
Amazon’s acquisition of Perceive is expected to enhance its capabilities in edge computing and AI workloads, bolstering its devices’ performance and speed. The Perceive team’s expertise in serving large AI models on edge devices will contribute to Amazon’s efforts in developing advanced language models and multi-modal experiences. With the vast potential of Perceive’s technology, Amazon aims to capitalize on this acquisition to stay competitive in the evolving AI landscape.
