Qualcomm Buys into AI With Scyfer

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Qualcomm announces the acquisition of Scyfer, a machine learning startup based in the Netherlands, in order to bolster its artificial intelligence capabilities.

Qualcomm AI“We started fundamental research a decade ago, and our current products now support many AI use cases from computer vision and natural language processing to malware detection on a variety of devices-- such as smartphones and cars-- and we are researching broader topics, such as AI for wireless connectivity, power management and photography,” Qualcomm says.

The company adds its research in AI covers fields including neural network techniques for semi-supervised and unsupervised training such as generative adversarial networks (GANs), distributed learning and privacy protection, network optimisation for on-device applications (including compression, inter-layer optimisations and sparsity optimisations) and specialised hardware architectures to accelerate machine learning tasks.

Founded by University of Amsterdam professor Dr. Max Welling, Scyfer is focused on cutting-cutting edge machine learning techniques for mobile and computer vision. It has built AI solutions for a number of different industries, including manufacturing, healthcare and finance.

Post-acquisition Dr. Welling remains a professor at the University of Amsterdam, while the Scyfer team remains based in Amsterdam. The University of Amsterdam already has affiliation with Qualcomm, as the two joined forces to establish the QUVA AI research lab back in 2015.

Go Qualcomm Bolsters Position in Artificial Intelligence Research, Outlines its Vision for the Future