AI chip companies Pliops, Kalray set to merge

Business news | June 17, 2024

By Peter Clarke

Data centre processor and board maker Pliops Ltd. (Ramat Gan, Israel) is in discussions to merge with another AI processor platform company Kalray SA (Paris, France).

The two companies have been working to combine their technologies for several months and have indicated they plan to create processors capable of supporting generative AI and data storage acceleration.

Under the terms of the merger Kalray shareholders would hold 65 percent of the merged company and Pliops’ shareholders would hold 35 percent in exchange for all of their shares in Pliops, reports said. Kalray plans to issue new shares to distribute to Pliops’ shareholders.

Ido Bukspan, CEO of Pliops and former senior vice president of chip design at Nvidia, is quoted saying: “The potential in this proposed merger between our two companies is tremendous. Combining our technological expertise, teams, and products to make this new entity a global leader will significantly accelerate our time to market with a novel storage paradigm for AI data acceleration solutions.”

Bukspan was drafted in as CEO in June 2023 (see Pliops taps Nvidia chip boss as CEO). Pliops has raised about $200 million since its formation in 2017 and employs approximately 120 employees in Israel, the U.S and China.

Eric Baissus, CEO of Kalray, is quoted saying: “This proposed merger with Pliops represents a major strategic opportunity for our companies. By combining our strengths, we aim to become the global leader in data acceleration solutions for storage and AI GPUs. We are confident that this alliance would offer our customers even more disruptive solutions and present a unique value, including to the most advanced players in the market.”