Hailo Launches AI Accelerator Hailo-10 Following $120M Funding Round

Hailo Technologies Ltd, a chip manufacturer, has completed a new round of financing worth $120 million and launched the powerful AI accelerator Hailo-10, aiming to bring generative AI capabilities to edge devices. The company's total funding has now exceeded $340 million, with a valuation of $1.2 billion.

Founded in 2017, Hailo provides AI chips that enable edge devices to achieve data center-level performance in various fields such as personal computing, automotive, security, industrial 4.0, and retail.

The Hailo-10 accelerator allows users to run applications such as chatbots, co-pilot assistants, and content generation tools on local devices without relying on cloud-based services. This breakthrough technology addresses key issues such as network connectivity, latency, privacy, and sustainability, making generative AI an integral part of users' daily lives.

This round of financing was led by existing and new investors, including the Zisapel family, Gil Agmon, Delek Motors, Alfred Akirov, DCLBA, Vasuki, OurCrowd, Talcar, Comasco, Automotive Equipment (AEV), and Poalim Equity.

Hailo's CEO and co-founder Orr Danon emphasized the importance of this round of financing and the release of Hailo-10, stating, "With the launch of the Hailo-10 GenAI accelerator, we strategically position ourselves to bring classical and generative AI to edge devices, significantly expanding the coverage and impact of this extraordinary new technology."

The Hailo-10 accelerator boasts impressive performance metrics, capable of running large language models such as Llama2-7B at a rate of up to 10 tokens per second, consuming less than 5 watts of power. It can also process popular image generation models such as Stable Diffusion 2.1 in less than 5 seconds within the same ultra-low power range. Hailo-10 achieves a maximum performance of 40 TOPS (trillions of operations per second), outperforming integrated neural processing unit solutions and doubling performance while consuming only half the power of an Intel Core Ultra NPU.

Despite making technological advancements and having strong financial support, Hailo still faces fierce competition from industry giants such as Qualcomm, Arm, Intel, and AMD. These established players possess substantial financial resources, extensive market coverage, and long-term partnerships with key customers and collaborators. To succeed, Hailo needs to differentiate itself through exceptional performance, energy efficiency, and integration convenience, while also building a robust software ecosystem and establishing strategic partnerships in target markets.

The initial target for the Hailo-10 accelerator is personal computers and automotive infotainment systems, aiming to power CPUs that enable increasingly popular AI functionalities both now and in the future. Hailo plans to start offering samples of Hailo-10 in the second quarter of 2024.