Intel may be a tad behind the likes of Nvidia when it comes to AI-designed chipsets, but the company just took a significant step forward in asserting its place within the industry, after debuting a new set of AI processors. Named the Nervana Neural Network (NNP) processors, they are the industry's first chip made specifically for neural network computing, according to Intel.

As such, the company says these new processors will be put to use in the fields of healthcare, motoring, meteorology and social media, partnering closely with Facebook on the latter. Along with revealing this first set of NNP chipsets, Intel also notes that it has a number of iterations in the pipeline, with different levels of scalability depending on the AI model required. Furthermore, Intel says this new offering puts the company on track to deliver on its goal of increasing AI performance 100 fold by 2020.

Furthermore, Intel predicts to have generated up to $46 billion in revenue by the same 2020 timeframe as a result of its investment into the AI industry. With Artificial Intelligence the new megatrend when it comes to tech, it seems like Intel wants to ensure it's not only a part of the conversation, but also gets a piece of the pie as well.