Artificial intelligence (AI) chip start-up Kneron Inc (耐能) yesterday unveiled a cost-saving and energy-efficient alternative to Nvidia Corp’s graphic processing units (GPUs) for generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) solutions at scale.
Its new KL730 AI chip deploys Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) 12-nanometer process technology for production, Kneron said.
Kneron, based in San Diego, California, is known for pioneering the neural processing unit (NPUs), a special circuit for machine learning algorithms.
Photo courtesy of Kneron Inc
“People have been brainwashed that only GPUs can do AI. GPUs are good at rendering graphics and images, and at optimizing the gaming experience, but high costs and heavy energy consumption make GPUs unaffordable for average businesses and individuals to adopt for AI applications,” Kneron founder and CEO Albert Liu (劉峻誠) told a news conference in Taipei.
“Kneron’s NPU is an AI-dedicated chip and able to do what a GPU can do today, but at a much lower cost,” Liu said.
Quanta Cloud Technology Inc (雲達科技) and Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) have saved up to 75 percent in operational costs after using Kneron’s KL720 NPU in their servers, Liu said.
The KL730 can perform even better, he said.
The KL730 is also 150 to 200 percent more energy-efficient than products manufactured by major industry peers, the company says.
Automakers from Germany and Japan have shown an interest in adopting the KL730 for full-frame detection, a key feature of advanced driver-assistance systems, Liu said.
Liu said he expects autonomous vehicles to become the largest application for NPUs due to their higher average selling prices, followed by servers.
Kneron counts Quanta Cloud, Chunghwa Telecom and South Korea’s Naver Corp among its server customers.
South Korea’s Hanwha Group has adopted its AI chips for use in surveillance cameras, Kneron said.
The KL730 would be available for sampling by customers by the end of this year, the company said, adding that it can be used for enterprise-edge servers, smart home applications and advanced driver-assistance system applications.
Established in 2015, Kneron has raised more than US$140 million, backed by investors including Qualcomm Ventures, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), Horizons Ventures Ltd and Sequoia Capital.
Apart from TSMC, GlobalFoundries Inc and United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) are also Kneron foundry partners.
Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday introduced the company’s latest supercomputer platform, featuring six new chips made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), saying that it is now “in full production.” “If Vera Rubin is going to be in time for this year, it must be in production by now, and so, today I can tell you that Vera Rubin is in full production,” Huang said during his keynote speech at CES in Las Vegas. The rollout of six concurrent chips for Vera Rubin — the company’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) computing platform — marks a strategic
REVENUE PERFORMANCE: Cloud and network products, and electronic components saw strong increases, while smart consumer electronics and computing products fell Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted 26.51 percent quarterly growth in revenue for last quarter to NT$2.6 trillion (US$82.44 billion), the strongest on record for the period and above expectations, but the company forecast a slight revenue dip this quarter due to seasonal factors. On an annual basis, revenue last quarter grew 22.07 percent, the company said. Analysts on average estimated about NT$2.4 trillion increase. Hon Hai, which assembles servers for Nvidia Corp and iPhones for Apple Inc, is expanding its capacity in the US, adding artificial intelligence (AI) server production in Wisconsin and Texas, where it operates established campuses. This
US President Donald Trump on Friday blocked US photonics firm HieFo Corp’s US$3 million acquisition of assets in New Jersey-based aerospace and defense specialist Emcore Corp, citing national security and China-related concerns. In an order released by the White House, Trump said HieFo was “controlled by a citizen of the People’s Republic of China” and that its 2024 acquisition of Emcore’s businesses led the US president to believe that it might “take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.” The order did not name the person or detail Trump’s concerns. “The Transaction is hereby prohibited,”
Garment maker Makalot Industrial Co (聚陽) yesterday reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue of NT$7.93 billion (US$251.44 million), down 9.48 percent from NT$8.76 billion a year earlier. On a quarterly basis, revenue fell 10.83 percent from NT$8.89 billion, company data showed. The figure was also lower than market expectations of NT$8.05 billion, according to data compiled by Yuanta Securities Investment and Consulting Co (元大投顧), which had projected NT$8.22 billion. Makalot’s revenue this quarter would likely increase by a mid-teens percentage as the industry is entering its high season, Yuanta said. Overall, Makalot’s revenue last year totaled NT$34.43 billion, down 3.08 percent from its record NT$35.52
RSS