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{{short description|British semiconductor company}}
{{Infobox company
{{Infobox company
| name = Graphcore Limited
| name = Graphcore Limited
| logo = File:Graphcore logo.png
| logo = Graphcore logo.png
| type = [[Privately-held company|Private]]
| type = [[Privately-held company|Private]]
| founded = {{Start date and age|2016}}
| key_people = Nigel Toon (CEO)<br>Simon Knowles (CTO)
| founders = {{ubl|Nigel Toon|Simon Knowles}}
| key_people = {{ubl|Nigel Toon (CEO)|Simon Knowles (CTO)}}
| industry = [[Semiconductors]]
| industry = [[Semiconductors]]
| hq_location_city = [[Bristol]]
| hq_location_city = [[Bristol]]
| hq_location_country = [[United Kingdom]]
| hq_location_country = [[United Kingdom]]
| products = IPU, Poplar
| products = IPU, Poplar
| revenue = {{US$|2.7 million}} (2022)<ref name=reuters2023 />
| website = https://www.graphcore.ai/
| net_income = {{US$|-205 million}} (2022)<ref name=reuters2023 />
| num_employees = 494 (2023)<ref name=reuters2023>{{Cite news |last=Cherney |first=Max A. |date=5 October 2023 |title=Losses widen, cash needed at chip startup Graphcore, an Nvidia rival, filing shows |url=https://www.reuters.com/technology/losses-widen-cash-needed-chip-startup-graphcore-an-nvidia-rival-filing-2023-10-05/ |work=Reuters}}</ref>
| website = {{URL|https://www.graphcore.ai/}}
}}
}}


'''Graphcore''' is a British [[semiconductor]] company that develops [[AI accelerator|accelerators for AI]] and [[machine learning]]. It aims to make a massively parallel Intelligence Processing Unit (IPU) that holds the complete machine learning model inside the processor.<ref>{{cite news
'''Graphcore Limited''' is a British [[semiconductor]] company that develops [[AI accelerator|accelerators for AI]] and [[machine learning]]. It has introduced a massively parallel ''Intelligence Processing Unit'' (IPU) that holds the complete machine learning model inside the processor.<ref>{{cite news
| title = AI Chip Startup Shares Insights: "Very large" FinFET chip in the works at TSMC
| title = AI Chip Startup Shares Insights: "Very large" FinFET chip in the works at TSMC
| author = Peter Clarke
| author = Peter Clarke
Line 17: Line 23:
| publisher = eetimes
| publisher = eetimes
| date = 2016-11-01
| date = 2016-11-01
| accessdate = 2017-08-02
| access-date = 2017-08-02
}}</ref>
}}</ref>


==History==
==History==
Graphcore was founded in 2016 by Simon Knowles and Nigel Toon.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/dec/29/uk-graphcore-valued-28bn-nvidia-artificial-intelligence |title=UK chipmaker Graphcore valued at $2.8bn after it raises $222m |date=2020-12-29 |work=[[The Guardian]] |last=Jolly |first=Jasper}}</ref>
Graphcore was founded in 2016 by Simon Knowles and Nigel Toon.


In the autumn of 2016, Graphcore secured a first funding round lead by [[Robert Bosch GmbH|Robert Bosch]] Venture Capital. Other backers include [[Samsung]], [[Amadeus Capital Partners]], C4 Ventures, [[Draper Esprit]], [[Foundation Capital]], and Pitango Capital.<ref>{{cite news| title = AI chipmaker Graphcore raises $30 million to take on Intel| author = Arjun Kharpal| url = https://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/31/ai-chipmaker-graphcore-raises-30-million-to-take-on-intel-nvidia.html| newspaper = CNBC| date = 2016-10-31| accessdate = 2017-07-31}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| title = UK chip start-up Graphcore raises £30m for take on AI giants| author = Madhumita Murgia| url = https://www.ft.com/content/053f9dea-9e98-11e6-891e-abe238dee8e2| newspaper = Financial Times| date = 2016-10-31| accessdate = 2017-08-02}}</ref>
In the autumn of 2016, Graphcore secured a first funding round led by [[Robert Bosch GmbH|Robert Bosch]] Venture Capital. Other backers included [[Samsung]], [[Amadeus Capital Partners]], C4 Ventures, [[Draper Esprit]], [[Foundation Capital]], and [[Pitango]].<ref>{{cite news| title = AI chipmaker Graphcore raises $30 million to take on Intel| author = Arjun Kharpal| url = https://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/31/ai-chipmaker-graphcore-raises-30-million-to-take-on-intel-nvidia.html| newspaper = CNBC| date = 2016-10-31| access-date = 2017-07-31}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| title = UK chip start-up Graphcore raises £30m for take on AI giants| author = Madhumita Murgia| url = https://www.ft.com/content/053f9dea-9e98-11e6-891e-abe238dee8e2| newspaper = Financial Times| date = 2016-10-31| access-date = 2017-08-02}}</ref>


In July 2017, Graphcore secured a round B funding lead by [[Atomico]],<ref>{{cite news| title = U.K. Chip Designer Graphcore Gets $30 Million to Fund Expansion| author = Jeremy Kahn and Ian King| url = https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-20/u-k-chip-designer-graphcore-gets-30-million-to-fund-expansion| newspaper = Bloomberg| date = 2017-07-20| accessdate = 2017-07-31}}</ref> which was followed a few months later by $50 million in funding from [[Sequoia Capital]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Lynley|first1=Matthew|title=Graphcore raises $50M amid a flurry of AI chip activity |date = 2017-11-12| url=https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/12/graphcore-raises-50m-amid-a-flurry-of-ai-chip-activity/|accessdate=2017-12-07 |work=TechCrunch|language=en}}</ref>
In July 2017, Graphcore secured a round B funding led by [[Atomico]],<ref>{{cite news| title = U.K. Chip Designer Graphcore Gets $30 Million to Fund Expansion| author = Jeremy Kahn and Ian King| url = https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-20/u-k-chip-designer-graphcore-gets-30-million-to-fund-expansion| newspaper = Bloomberg| date = 2017-07-20| access-date = 2017-07-31}}</ref> which was followed a few months later by $50 million in funding from [[Sequoia Capital]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Lynley|first1=Matthew|title=Graphcore raises $50M amid a flurry of AI chip activity |date = 2017-11-12| url=https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/12/graphcore-raises-50m-amid-a-flurry-of-ai-chip-activity/|access-date=2017-12-07 |work=TechCrunch|language=en}}</ref>


In December 2018, Graphcore closed its series D with $200 million raised at a $1.7 billion valuation, making the company a [[Unicorn (finance)|unicorn]]. Investors included Microsoft, Samsung and Dell Technologies.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/18/ai-chip-startup-graphcore-closes-200m-series-d-adds-bmw-and-microsoft-as-strategic-investors/|title=AI chip startup Graphcore closes $200M Series D, adds BMW and Microsoft as strategic investors|website=TechCrunch|language=en-US|access-date=2018-12-19}}</ref>
In December 2018, Graphcore closed its series D with $200 million raised at a $1.7 billion valuation, making the company a [[Unicorn (finance)|unicorn]]. Investors included Microsoft, Samsung and Dell Technologies.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/18/ai-chip-startup-graphcore-closes-200m-series-d-adds-bmw-and-microsoft-as-strategic-investors/|title=AI chip startup Graphcore closes $200M Series D, adds BMW and Microsoft as strategic investors|website=TechCrunch|date=18 December 2018 |language=en-US|access-date=2018-12-19}}</ref>


On 13 November 2019, Graphcore announced that their Graphcore C2 IPUs are available for preview on [[Microsoft Azure]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.graphcore.ai/posts/microsoft-and-graphcore-collaborate-to-accelerate-artificial-intelligence|title=Microsoft and Graphcore collaborate to accelerate Artificial Intelligence|last=Toon|first=Nigel|website=www.graphcore.ai|language=en-gb|access-date=2019-11-16}}</ref>
On 13 November 2019, Graphcore announced that their Graphcore C2 IPUs were available for preview on [[Microsoft Azure]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.graphcore.ai/posts/microsoft-and-graphcore-collaborate-to-accelerate-artificial-intelligence|title=Microsoft and Graphcore collaborate to accelerate Artificial Intelligence|last=Toon|first=Nigel|website=www.graphcore.ai|language=en-gb|access-date=2019-11-16}}</ref>

[[Meta Platforms]] acquired the AI networking technology team from Graphcore in early 2023.<ref>{{cite news |last=Paul |first=Katie |date=5 May 2023 |title=Meta Platforms scoops up AI networking chip team from Graphcore |url=https://www.reuters.com/technology/meta-platforms-scoops-up-ai-networking-chip-team-graphcore-2023-05-05/ |publisher=Reuters}}</ref>

In July 2024, [[Softbank Group]] agreed to acquire Graphcore for around $500&nbsp;million. The deal is under review by the [[Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy|UK's Business Department's]] investment security unit.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nicol-Schwarz |first=Kai |date=9 July 2024 |title=Graphcore employees have share value wiped as sale to SoftBank agreed |url=https://sifted.eu/articles/graphcore-conditional-sale-agreed-news |work=Sifted}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Titcomb |first1=James |last2=Field |first2=Matthew |date=1 July 2024 |title=Japanese deal for AI champion Graphcore faces national security review |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/07/01/softbank-ai-deal-graphcore-national-security-review/ |work=The Daily Telegraph}}</ref>


==Products==
==Products==
In 2016, Graphcore announced the world's first graph tool chain designed for machine intelligence called Poplar Software Stack.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.graphcore.ai/posts/what-does-machine-learning-look-like|title=Inside an AI 'brain' - What does machine learning look like?|last=Fyles|first=Matt|website=www.graphcore.ai|language=en-gb|access-date=2019-11-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.graphcore.ai/posts/introducing_poplar_our_ipu_processor_software_at_neurips|title=Introducing Poplar® - our IPU-Processor software at NeurIPS|last=Doherty|first=Sally|website=www.graphcore.ai|language=en-gb|access-date=2019-11-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.graphcore.ai/posts/graph-computing-for-machine-intelligence-with-poplar|title=Graph computing for machine intelligence with Poplar™|last=Fyles|first=Matt|website=www.graphcore.ai|language=en-gb|access-date=2019-11-16}}</ref>
In 2016, Graphcore announced the world's first graph tool chain designed for machine intelligence called Poplar Software Stack.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.graphcore.ai/posts/what-does-machine-learning-look-like|title=Inside an AI 'brain' - What does machine learning look like?|last=Fyles|first=Matt|website=www.graphcore.ai|language=en-gb|access-date=2019-11-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.graphcore.ai/posts/introducing_poplar_our_ipu_processor_software_at_neurips|title=Introducing Poplar® - our IPU-Processor software at NeurIPS|last=Doherty|first=Sally|website=www.graphcore.ai|language=en-gb|access-date=2019-11-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.graphcore.ai/posts/graph-computing-for-machine-intelligence-with-poplar|title=Graph computing for machine intelligence with Poplar™|last=Fyles|first=Matt|website=www.graphcore.ai|language=en-gb|access-date=2019-11-16}}</ref>


In July 2017, Graphcore announced their first chip, called the Colossus GC2, a "16&nbsp;nm massively parallel, mixed-precision floating point processor", first available in 2018.<ref name="Tiffany">{{cite web|url=https://www.hpcwire.com/2017/07/20/graphcore-readies-launch-16nm-colossus-ipu-chip/|title=Graphcore Readies Launch of 16nm Colossus-IPU Chip |last1=Trader |first1=Tiffany |date=2017-07-20 |website=hpcwire.com |publisher=HPC Wire |accessdate=2017-12-11}}</ref><ref name="Lucchesi">{{cite web|url=https://silvertonconsulting.com/blog/2018/11/19/new-graphcore-gc2-chips-with-2pflop-performance-in-a-dell-server/|title=New GraphCore GC2 chips with 2PFlop performance in a Dell Server |last1=Lucchesi |first1=Ray |date=2018-11-19 |website=silvertonconsulting.com |publisher=Silverton Consulting |accessdate=2018-12-16}}</ref> Packaged with two chips on a single PCI Express card called the Graphcore C2 IPU, it is stated to perform the same role as a GPU in conjunction with standard machine learning frameworks such as [[TensorFlow]].<ref name=Tiffany/> The device relies on [[scratchpad memory]] for its performance rather than traditional cache hierarchies.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.graphcore.ai/hubfs/assets/pdf/Citadel%20Securities%20Technical%20Report%20-%20Dissecting%20the%20Graphcore%20IPU%20Architecture%20via%20Microbenchmarking%20Dec%202019.pdf|title=Dissecting the Graphcore IPU Architecture via Microbenchmarking|author=[[Citadel LLC|Citadel]] High Performance Computing R&D Team|date=2019}}</ref>
In July 2017, Graphcore announced its first chip, called the Colossus GC2, a "16&nbsp;nm massively parallel, mixed-precision floating point processor", that became available in 2018.<ref name="Tiffany">{{cite web|url=https://www.hpcwire.com/2017/07/20/graphcore-readies-launch-16nm-colossus-ipu-chip/|title=Graphcore Readies Launch of 16nm Colossus-IPU Chip |last1=Trader |first1=Tiffany |date=2017-07-20 |website=hpcwire.com |publisher=HPC Wire |access-date=2017-12-11}}</ref><ref name="Lucchesi">{{cite web|url=https://silvertonconsulting.com/blog/2018/11/19/new-graphcore-gc2-chips-with-2pflop-performance-in-a-dell-server/|title=New GraphCore GC2 chips with 2PFlop performance in a Dell Server |last1=Lucchesi |first1=Ray |date=2018-11-19 |website=silvertonconsulting.com |publisher=Silverton Consulting |access-date=2018-12-16}}</ref> Packaged with two chips on a single PCI Express card, called the Graphcore C2 IPU (an Intelligence Processing Unit), it is stated to perform the same role as a GPU in conjunction with standard machine learning frameworks such as [[TensorFlow]].<ref name=Tiffany/> The device relies on [[scratchpad memory]] for its performance rather than traditional cache hierarchies.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.graphcore.ai/hubfs/assets/pdf/Citadel%20Securities%20Technical%20Report%20-%20Dissecting%20the%20Graphcore%20IPU%20Architecture%20via%20Microbenchmarking%20Dec%202019.pdf|title=Dissecting the Graphcore IPU Architecture via Microbenchmarking|author=[[Citadel LLC|Citadel]] High Performance Computing R&D Team|date=2019}}</ref>

In July 2020, Graphcore presented its second generation processor called GC200, built with [[TSMC]]'s [[7 nm process|7nm FinFET manufacturing process]]. GC200 is a 59 billion transistor, 823 square-millimeter integrated circuit with 1,472 computational cores and 900 Mbyte of local memory.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.graphcore.ai/posts/introducing-second-generation-ipu-systems-for-ai-at-scale/|title=Graphcore Introducing 2nd Generation IPU Systems For AI At Scale|language=en-gb|access-date=2020-08-09}}</ref> In 2022, Graphcore and TSMC presented the ''Bow IPU'', a 3D package of a GC200 die bonded face to face to a power-delivery die that allows for higher clock rate at lower core voltage.<ref name="next">Timothy Prickett Morgan: [https://www.nextplatform.com/2022/03/03/graphcore-goes-3d-with-ai-chips-architects-10-exaflops-ultra-intelligent-machine/ ''GraphCore Goes Full 3D With AI Chips.''] The Next Platform, March 3, 2022.</ref> Graphcore aims at a ''Good machine'', named after [[I.J. Good]], enabling [[Artificial neural network|AI models]] with more parameters than the human brain has synapses.<ref name="next" />


{| class="wikitable"
In July 2020, Graphcore presented hardware using a second generation processor called GC200 built in TSMC's [[7 nm process|7nm FinFET manufacturing process]]. GC200 is a 59 billion transistor, 823 square-millimeter integrated circuit with 1,472 computational cores and 900 Mbyte of local memories.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.graphcore.ai/posts/introducing-second-generation-ipu-systems-for-ai-at-scale/|title=Graphcore Introducing 2nd Generation IPU Systems For AI At Scale|language=en-gb|access-date=2020-08-09}}</ref>
|-
! Release date !! Product !! Process node !! Cores !! Threads !! Transistors
!tera[[FLOPS]] ([[FP16]])
|-
| July 2017 || Colossus™ MK1 - GC2 IPU || 16&nbsp;nm TSMC || 1216 || 7296 || ?
|~100-125<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kennedy |first=Patrick |date=2019-06-07 |title=Hands-on With a Graphcore C2 IPU PCIe Card at Dell Tech World |url=https://www.servethehome.com/hands-on-with-a-graphcore-c2-ipu-pcie-card-at-dell-tech-world/ |access-date=2023-06-26 |website=ServeTheHome |language=en-US}}</ref>
|-
| July 2020 || Colossus™ MK2 - GC200 IPU || 7&nbsp;nm TSMC || 1472 || 8832 || 59 billion
|~250-280<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ltd |first=Graphcore |title=IPU Processors |url=https://www.graphcore.ai/products/ipu |access-date=2023-06-26 |website=www.graphcore.ai |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|
|Colossus™ MK3
|
|
|
|
|~500<ref>{{Cite web |title=ScalAH22: 13th Workshop on Latest Advances in Scalable Algorithms for Large-Scale Heterogeneous Systems |url=https://www.csm.ornl.gov/srt/conferences/Scala/2022/ |access-date=2023-06-26 |website=www.csm.ornl.gov}}</ref>
|}


Both the older and newer chips can use 6 threads per tile (for 8,832 threads in total, per GC200 chip) "[[MIMD]] (Multiple Instruction, Multiple Data) parallelism and has distributed, local memory as its only form of memory on the device" (except for registers), and the newer GC200 chip has about 630 MB per tile, vs 256 KiB per tile in older C2 chip, that are arranged into ''islands'' (4 tiles per island),<ref>{{Cite web|title=Dissecting theGraphcore IPUArchitecturevia Microbenchmarking|url=https://arxiv.org/pdf/1912.03413.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> that are arranged into columns, and latency is best within tile. The IPU uses IEEE FP16, with stochastic rounding, and also single-precision FP32, at lower performance.<ref>{{Cite web|title=THE GRAPHCORE SECOND GENERATION IPU|url=https://www.graphcore.ai/hubfs/MK2-%20The%20Graphcore%202nd%20Generation%20IPU%20Final%20v7.14.2020.pdf?hsLang=en|url-status=live}}</ref> Code and data executed locally must must fit in a tile, but with message-passing, all on-chip or off-chip memory can be used, and software for AI makes it transparently possible, e.g. has [[PyTorch]] support.
Both the older and newer chips can use 6 threads per tile{{what?|date=July 2024}} (for a total of 7,296 and 8,832 threads, respectively) "[[Multiple instruction, multiple data|MIMD]] (Multiple Instruction, Multiple Data) parallelism and has distributed, local memory as its only form of memory on the device" (except for registers).{{cn|date=July 2024}} The older GC2 chip has 256 KiB per tile while the newer GC200 chip has about 630 KiB per tile that are arranged into ''islands'' (4 tiles per island),<ref>{{Cite arXiv|title=Dissecting theGraphcore IPUArchitecturevia Microbenchmarking|eprint=1912.03413|last1=Jia|first1=Zhe|last2=Tillman|first2=Blake|last3=Maggioni|first3=Marco|author4=Daniele Paolo Scarpazza|year=2019|class=cs.DC }}</ref> that are arranged into columns, and latency is best within tile.{{what?|date=July 2024}}{{cn|date=July 2024}} The IPU uses IEEE [[Half-precision floating-point format|FP16]], with stochastic rounding, and also [[Single-precision floating-point format|single-precision FP32]], at lower performance.<ref>{{Cite web|title=THE GRAPHCORE SECOND GENERATION IPU|url=https://www.graphcore.ai/hubfs/MK2-%20The%20Graphcore%202nd%20Generation%20IPU%20Final%20v7.14.2020.pdf?hsLang=en}}</ref> Code and data executed locally must fit in a tile, but with message-passing, all on-chip or off-chip memory can be used, and software for AI makes it transparently possible,{{what?|date=July 2024}} e.g. has [[PyTorch]] support.{{cn|date=July 2024}}


==See also==
==See also==
Line 46: Line 76:


==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Reflist}}


==External links==
==External links==
Line 57: Line 87:
[[Category:British companies established in 2016]]
[[Category:British companies established in 2016]]
[[Category:Companies based in Bristol]]
[[Category:Companies based in Bristol]]
[[Category:Fabless semiconductor companies]]
[[Category:Announced mergers and acquisitions]]

Latest revision as of 11:29, 12 July 2024

Graphcore Limited
Company typePrivate
IndustrySemiconductors
Founded2016; 8 years ago (2016)
Founders
  • Nigel Toon
  • Simon Knowles
Headquarters,
Key people
  • Nigel Toon (CEO)
  • Simon Knowles (CTO)
ProductsIPU, Poplar
RevenueUS$2.7 million (2022)[1]
US$−205 million (2022)[1]
Number of employees
494 (2023)[1]
Websitewww.graphcore.ai

Graphcore Limited is a British semiconductor company that develops accelerators for AI and machine learning. It has introduced a massively parallel Intelligence Processing Unit (IPU) that holds the complete machine learning model inside the processor.[2]

History

[edit]

Graphcore was founded in 2016 by Simon Knowles and Nigel Toon.[3]

In the autumn of 2016, Graphcore secured a first funding round led by Robert Bosch Venture Capital. Other backers included Samsung, Amadeus Capital Partners, C4 Ventures, Draper Esprit, Foundation Capital, and Pitango.[4][5]

In July 2017, Graphcore secured a round B funding led by Atomico,[6] which was followed a few months later by $50 million in funding from Sequoia Capital.[7]

In December 2018, Graphcore closed its series D with $200 million raised at a $1.7 billion valuation, making the company a unicorn. Investors included Microsoft, Samsung and Dell Technologies.[8]

On 13 November 2019, Graphcore announced that their Graphcore C2 IPUs were available for preview on Microsoft Azure.[9]

Meta Platforms acquired the AI networking technology team from Graphcore in early 2023.[10]

In July 2024, Softbank Group agreed to acquire Graphcore for around $500 million. The deal is under review by the UK's Business Department's investment security unit.[11][12]

Products

[edit]

In 2016, Graphcore announced the world's first graph tool chain designed for machine intelligence called Poplar Software Stack.[13][14][15]

In July 2017, Graphcore announced its first chip, called the Colossus GC2, a "16 nm massively parallel, mixed-precision floating point processor", that became available in 2018.[16][17] Packaged with two chips on a single PCI Express card, called the Graphcore C2 IPU (an Intelligence Processing Unit), it is stated to perform the same role as a GPU in conjunction with standard machine learning frameworks such as TensorFlow.[16] The device relies on scratchpad memory for its performance rather than traditional cache hierarchies.[18]

In July 2020, Graphcore presented its second generation processor called GC200, built with TSMC's 7nm FinFET manufacturing process. GC200 is a 59 billion transistor, 823 square-millimeter integrated circuit with 1,472 computational cores and 900 Mbyte of local memory.[19] In 2022, Graphcore and TSMC presented the Bow IPU, a 3D package of a GC200 die bonded face to face to a power-delivery die that allows for higher clock rate at lower core voltage.[20] Graphcore aims at a Good machine, named after I.J. Good, enabling AI models with more parameters than the human brain has synapses.[20]

Release date Product Process node Cores Threads Transistors teraFLOPS (FP16)
July 2017 Colossus™ MK1 - GC2 IPU 16 nm TSMC 1216 7296 ? ~100-125[21]
July 2020 Colossus™ MK2 - GC200 IPU 7 nm TSMC 1472 8832 59 billion ~250-280[22]
Colossus™ MK3 ~500[23]

Both the older and newer chips can use 6 threads per tile[clarification needed] (for a total of 7,296 and 8,832 threads, respectively) "MIMD (Multiple Instruction, Multiple Data) parallelism and has distributed, local memory as its only form of memory on the device" (except for registers).[citation needed] The older GC2 chip has 256 KiB per tile while the newer GC200 chip has about 630 KiB per tile that are arranged into islands (4 tiles per island),[24] that are arranged into columns, and latency is best within tile.[clarification needed][citation needed] The IPU uses IEEE FP16, with stochastic rounding, and also single-precision FP32, at lower performance.[25] Code and data executed locally must fit in a tile, but with message-passing, all on-chip or off-chip memory can be used, and software for AI makes it transparently possible,[clarification needed] e.g. has PyTorch support.[citation needed]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Cherney, Max A. (5 October 2023). "Losses widen, cash needed at chip startup Graphcore, an Nvidia rival, filing shows". Reuters.
  2. ^ Peter Clarke (2016-11-01). "AI Chip Startup Shares Insights: "Very large" FinFET chip in the works at TSMC". eetimes. Retrieved 2017-08-02.
  3. ^ Jolly, Jasper (2020-12-29). "UK chipmaker Graphcore valued at $2.8bn after it raises $222m". The Guardian.
  4. ^ Arjun Kharpal (2016-10-31). "AI chipmaker Graphcore raises $30 million to take on Intel". CNBC. Retrieved 2017-07-31.
  5. ^ Madhumita Murgia (2016-10-31). "UK chip start-up Graphcore raises £30m for take on AI giants". Financial Times. Retrieved 2017-08-02.
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51°27′19.0″N 2°35′33.3″W / 51.455278°N 2.592583°W / 51.455278; -2.592583