Xilinx Heterogeneous FPGA platform questions

[Arthur Hanson]

Is this one step towards an automata type structure? Will they be using advanced memory structures like 3Dxpoint or Crossbar? Is this the next step in the evolution of computing structure. The guesses out there are that Xilinx will use Micron or Samsung advanced memory. Any opinions or thoughts on this or automata type structures will be appreciated. Are we on track for a radical change in computing?

Xilinx Pursues Datacenter Market with New Heterogeneous FPGA Platform | TOP500 Supercomputer Sites

 

[Daniel Payne]

Arthur,

Remember that Micron has halted internal development of the Automata Processor program:

AP Portal

Xilinx is not using any of Intel or Micron's 3D Xpoint (NVM), nor Samsung advanced memory.

The ACAP is a new type of programmable hardware:

Xilinx to bust ACAP in the dome of data centres all over with uber FPGA • The Register

We are in the early hype cycles where Xilinx as the vendor is touting the potential benefits, yet we have no customers with real devices and real reviews to inform us, so stay tuned.

Because Universities churn out CS and EE majors by the thousands each year, we typically see one new CPU/GPU/TPU/AI etc architecture announced per week, so there's a lot of novelty going on.

Since Xilinx has spent some $1B in developing their new ACAP chips, they will no doubt find some application niches to dominate. The last article author touts some possible ACAP application areas:

Applications for the Everest ACAP are in the big data and AI areas: video transcoding, database, data compression, search, AI inference, genomics, machine vision, computational storage and network acceleration.

Anticipated markets include the automotive, industrial, scientific and medical, aerospace and defence, test, measurement and emulation, audio/video and broadcast, and consumer sectors.​

 

[Arthur Hanson]

Dan, thanks for the insights, it's appreciated and they will become a part of my tool box for future use. I'm also trying to learn to look beneath the surface, since more than ever secrecy and even deception are increasing used tools out there. Reading subtilties is key and Micron had one of its executives just very briefly tipped his hand on an advanced technology that will be used. At 3 plus hours the call was long, many didn't have the time to take it all in. Also, just because automata was so called spun off as Natural Intelligence doesn't mean much for I wasn't able to find our when, how much and the true ownership. Deception is part of the game and I don't think anyone outside a very small circle really knows the game being played. ART