Processor design is a discipline that follows a set of standards that all designers and hardware manufacturers must follow in order to develop products that perform and perform as intended. As processors become more complex, there is a need to use new tools such as artificial intelligence in order to automate part of the process.
Google uses AI to design its new chips
It’s no secret that Google uses AI as a hub for its services, it’s something that we have known for a long time and is that artificial intelligence algorithms are crucial for the proper functioning of the engines of research. Phenomenon that led them to create their own processors for AI in the form of their Tensor Processor Units, which are used in the company’s own servers.
The design of new integrated circuits in the form of a chip, whether in the form of CPU, GPU, APU follow a series of specific models and rules in its design. Basically, it’s always the solution of a puzzle according to specific rules. These rules of the game can be learned so that an artificial intelligence can solve these puzzles and quickly deliver the solution to design.
This is why Google has been developing a machine learning algorithm for some time. to help you create new processors. His latest advances they have just been published in the prestigious journal Nature. In an article where they describe the use of AI for the design of what we call the Processor Floorplan, which consists of the distribution of the elements of the chip during its design, as well as the interconnection of these.
Floor planning is one of the first parts of designing a new processor, which requires a large amount of human resources. The new AI isn’t about creating chips from scratch, but it’s about making the tedious step of item placement much faster than it has been so far.. According to Google, its algorithm cuts the working months of a group of people to less than six hours.
A measure that will be adopted by the hardware industry
It’s no secret that artificial intelligence has become a powerful tool for a multitude of markets. Especially in the hardware world, we have seen how the two leading companies of the moment in the PC, NVIDIA and Intel, have bet very strongly on artificial intelligence, in particular NVIDIA where this has become their main business model above graphics. .
Although Google was the first to present an article associating AI with the design of new chips to automate part of the process, it cannot be ruled out that the rest of the players in the industry are not developing similar solutions in order to speed up the process. deployment of their new processors on the market.
