ResNet-50 Does Not Predict Inference Throughput For MegaPixel Neural Network Models


Customers are considering applications for AI inference and want to evaluate multiple inference accelerators. As we discussed last month, TOPS do NOT correlate with inference throughput and you should use real neural network models to benchmark accelerators. So is ResNet-50 a good benchmark for evaluating relative performance of inference accelerators? If your application is going to p... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


M&A AMD will acquire Xilinx for $35 billion in an all-stock deal. "Joining together with AMD will help accelerate growth in our data center business and enable us to pursue a broader customer base across more markets,” said Victor Peng, Xilinx president and CEO. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2021. The acquisition of the programmable logic giant will leave only a few purepla... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Automotive Synopsys added support for Infineon's automotive AI chip, the AURIX TC4xx 32-bit microcontroller with parallel processing unit. Dialog Semiconductor announced automotive qualification for its DA7280 high-definition haptic driver. The company Alps Alpine is using the DA7280 in Alps Alpine Heavy, the latest version of its HAPTIC Reactor Linear Resonant Actuators (LRAs). Bosch, M... » read more

AMD Wants An FPGA Company, Too


AMD signed a definitive agreement to acquire Xilinx for $35 billion in stock, setting the stage for a head-to-head battle against Intel in nearly all major markets. But there's more to this acquisition than just keeping up with AMD's arch-competitor. To begin with, the acquisition has a big impact on the programmable logic market. The only pure-play FPGA vendors left are Lattice, Achronix, a... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


M&A Microchip Technology acquired LegUp Computing, a provider of a high-level synthesis compiler that automatically generates high-performance FPGA hardware from software. The LegUp HLS tool will be used alongside Microchip’s VectorBlox Accelerator Software Design kit and VectorBlox Neural Networking IP generator to provide a complete front-end solution stack for C/C++ algorithm develope... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Automotive, automation General Motors is planning a third electric-vehicle plant. The former Saturn factory will make first fully electric Cadillac, in the former Saturn assembly line. Tesla is allowing some customers to beta test its Full Self-Driving (FSD), according to The Verge. The company pushed the software update to some early access customers to do some real world beta test. Some o... » read more

One More Time: TOPS Do Not Predict Inference Throughput


Many times you’ll hear vendors talking about how many TOPS their chip has and imply that more TOPS means better inference performance. If you use TOPS to pick your AI inference chip, you will likely not be happy with what you get. Recently, Vivienne Sze, a professor at MIT, gave an excellent talk entitled “How to Evaluate Efficient Deep Neural Network Approaches.” Slides are also av... » read more

Are FPGAs More Secure Than Processors?


Security concerns often focus on software being executed on processors. But not all electronic functionality runs in software. FPGAs provide another way to do work, and they can be more secure than functions executed in software. FPGAs provide more control of hardware and are more opaque to attackers. In the case of embedded FPGAs, the designer is in complete control of the entire system. Th... » read more

AI Inference Acceleration


Geoff Tate, CEO of Flex Logix, talks about considerations in choosing an AI inference accelerator, how that fits in with other processing elements on a chip, what tradeoffs are involved with reducing latency, and what considerations are the most important. » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Synopsys announced an electronic and photonic co-design platform for photonic integrated circuit (PIC) design, layout implementation, and verification. The OptoCompiler provides schematic-driven layout and advanced photonic layout synthesis in the same platform. AI Rambus says it clocked 4.0 Gbps on its HBM2E memory interface (PHY and controller), which is a desirable speed for AI/ML traini... » read more

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