At the recent press event in Los Angeles, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) provided a detailed overview of its latest AI PC architecture. The company introduced its new neural processing unit (NPU) as part of the AMD Ryzen AI chips. These NPUs are crucial components for AI PCs, as the growth and specialization of AI workloads require a new compute architecture.
According to Vamsi Boppana, SVP of the AI group at AMD, NPUs offer significant performance benefits compared to standard central processing units (CPUs) and integrated graphics processing units (iGPUs). NPUs can operate on AI models at 35 times the performance per watt of a CPU and achieve eight times the performance of an iGPU.
Jack Huynh, SVP of computing at graphics at AMD, emphasized the company’s commitment to innovation in processors. He highlighted AMD’s long history of being at the forefront of technological advancements. Huynh explained that AI PCs are essential because they allow users to keep their data on their local network, ensuring privacy in AI-related work and play.
AMD’s latest Ryzen AI series introduces the world’s first x86 processor integrated with an NPU. The company has partnered with major computer makers such as Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo to bring over 100 AI-powered experiences to consumers. Asus will soon launch AMD-based AI PC laptops at Best Buy.
The new AMD Ryzen AI chips feature 16 RDNA 3.5 GPU compute units, 12 Zen CPU cores capable of computing 24 threads simultaneously, and an NPU with 50 trillion operations per second (TOPS) thanks to the AMD XDNA 2 architecture. The XDNA 2 chips offer five times the compute capacity of the previous generation and are more power-efficient.
AMD has also developed a unified AI software stack with open-source platforms. The company boasts more than 150 AI-powered software vendors launching applications for various purposes, such as immersive collaboration, content creation and editing, gaming, personal AI assistance, and enterprise productivity.
In terms of future advancements, AMD’s CTO Mark Papermaster discussed the Zen 5 architecture, which will power upcoming desktop processors. Zen 5 offers improvements in instructions per clock cycle, wider dispatch and execution abilities, and increased data bandwidth for load/store work.
Sebastien Nussbaum, corporate vice president for computing and graphics at AMD, highlighted the significant role AI processing will play in the computing landscape of the 2020s. He mentioned the vast number of available AI models and the exponential growth in AI-generated images. Nussbaum emphasized the advantages of local AI PCs over cloud-based solutions, including enhanced privacy and security, reduced latency, response time, and cloud costs.
AMD predicts that AI PCs will enable transformational experiences in collaboration, creation, assistance, and gaming/entertainment. Users can expect more natural language-based interactions and seamless AI-driven user experiences. Nussbaum envisions a hybrid approach where edge computing is combined with cloud processing for optimal results.
David McAfee, AMD’s corporate vice president for graphics and client channel, provided details about the AMD Ryzen 9000 series processor. These consumer processors offer superior gaming performance compared to Intel’s Core i9 processors. McAfee emphasized AMD’s leadership in the AI space and its commitment to driving technological advancements.
Overall, AMD’s latest AI PC architecture with the new NPU showcases the company’s dedication to pushing the boundaries of performance and innovation. With its advanced chips and software stack, AMD is poised to lead the way in delivering transformative AI experiences for users across various industries.
