The Strategist

Intel to buy Israeli company Mobileye



03/13/2017 - 14:20



American corporation Intel announced purchase of Israeli company Mobileye for $ 14-15 billion, reports Reuters referring to Israeli financial newspaper TheMarker. According to the newspaper, the deal will be announced later on Monday.



Maurizio Pesce
Maurizio Pesce
If the deal takes place, it will become the largest in the history of Israeli technology companies, notes the newspaper. Before that, Google bought an Israeli cartographic service Waze for $ 1.1 billion, and Apple purchased manufacturer of 3D-sensors PrimeSense for $ 300 million.

Mobileye was founded in 1999, and is now the leading supplier of obstacle sensors. In 2007, Goldman Sachs invested $ 130 million in the company, and it placed securities on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014. During the preliminary bidding on Monday, the company's shares jumped by 31.5%. The current market capitalization of Mobileye amounts to 10.6 billion dollars.

Mobileye occupies 65% of a market of devices for recognizing the traffic situation with help of video cameras. While such devices are used mainly in advanced systems of assistance to drivers, they enable them to see all important traffic signs, warn about sudden interference and work in conjunction with the systems of emergency automatic braking.

In July 2016 it became known that Intel and Mobileye participated in BMW’s project to create fully unmanned vehicles. The companies are already working on the creation of a fleet of 40 unmanned vehicles in Florida. The car should is expected to enter the market in 2021. At the same time, it was announced that Mobileye would terminate its cooperation with Tesla. Earlier, the Israeli sensor manufacturer was one of the key suppliers of Elon Musk’s company.

All leading automotive companies are now trying their best to create a perfect unmanned vehicle. Analysts expect that mass market will see autonomous cars in the middle of the next decade. They are sure that this new discovery will radically change our understanding of ownership and operation of cars.

Mobileye has long been a major component supplier for Tesla's autonomous driving system. However, a fatal crash involving Tesla’s auto piloted Model S in the spring of the last year forced Mobileye’s management to discontinue cooperation with the US automaker. The company told that Tesla hurries with development of unmanned vehicles, and this negatively affected reputation of Mobileye. 

source: reuters.com




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