Korean researchers develop AI semiconductor

A South Korean research institution has developed artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors that mimic human neural network to optimize efficiency.

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT on Tuesday, the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) and SK Telecom have produced the first neural processing unit (NPU) in the country, which can be applied to high performance servers and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The NPU is one of the AI processors that can process a large number of calculations by imitating human neural network.

This coin-sized AI semiconductor is a 23-millimeter-long and 17-millimeter-wide processor that has 16,384 arithmetic units. By increasing power efficiency 20-fold with the capacity to process data 40 trillion times a second, the researchers at the ETRI and SK Telecom have minimized its power consumption by applying software technology that enables each arithmetic unit to be turned on and off. The new semiconductor will be installed in CCTVs and the SK Telecom data center for voice recognition services for test in the second half of the year.


shinjsh@donga.com