Microchip Acquires Neuronix AI Labs
Microchip just purchased Neuronix AI Labs to expand its ability to deliver power-efficient, AI-enabled edge solutions on FPGAs. Neuronix AI Labs provides neural network sparsity optimization technology that reduces power, size, and calculations for tasks such as image classification, object detection, and semantic segmentation while maintaining high accuracy.
The acquisition will enable Microchip to develop cost-effective, large-scale edge deployments of components for computer vision applications on systems with cost, size, and power constraints, enabling a multifold increase in AI/ML processing horsepower on low—and mid-range FPGAs.
“The acquisition of Neuronix AI Labs’ technology will enhance our power efficiency for FPGAs and SoCs deployed in intelligent edge systems that utilize AI/ML algorithms,” said Bruce Weyer, corporate vice president of Microchip’s FPGA business unit. “Neuronix technology combined with our VectorBlox™ design flow produces an increase in neural network performance efficiency and delivers outstanding GOPS/watt performance in our low-power PolarFire FPGAs and SoCs. Systems designers will now be able to architect and deploy small-footprint hardware that was previously difficult to build due to size, thermal or power constraints.”
The acquisition will allow non-FPGA designers to harness powerful parallel processing capabilities using industry-standard AI frameworks without in-depth knowledge of FPGA design flow. Together, Neuronix AI intellectual property and Microchip’s compilers and software design kits allow for AI/ML algorithms to be implemented on customizable FPGA logic without resistor-transition level (RTL) expertise or knowledge of the underlying FPGA fabric. It is also designed to allow for updating and upgrading CNNs on the fly without needing to reprogram hardware.
