NEURAL PROCESSING UNIT

Neural Processing Unit (NPU) is a specialized hardware component made to speed up machine learning tasks, especially those involving neural networks.

- Shintu Dhang

It’s like how our brains process information, letting them recognize images, understand language, and quickly analyze data in real-time. The purpose is to enhance the performance of tasks that require large-scale data processing, especially in machine learning and artificial intelligence applications.

WHERE IS IT LOCATED?

SMARTPHONES: NPUs are integrated into the main SoC (System on Chip). For example, you might find an NPU in chipsets like Apple’s A-series, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon, or Samsung’s Exynos processors. These chips handle tasks like camera processing, facial recognition and voice assistants.

PC: In personal computers, NPUs can be a part of the CPU or exist as separate dedicated AI accelerator cards. For instance, NVIDIA’s Tensor Cores and Intel’s Movidius chips cater to machine learning workloads in PCs.

NPU CAPABILITY

PARALLEL PROCESSING: NPUs are designed to handle many calculations simultaneously, which is crucial for processing neural networks that involve numerous layers and connections.