Samsung Electronics to release next-gen AI accelerator

[Graphics by Song Ji-yoon]

Samsung Electronics Co. revealed at its latest shareholders‘ meeting that it is set to launch a next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) accelerator in early 2025.

During the 55th Samsung Electronics shareholders’ meeting held on Wednesday, Kyung Kye-hyun, head of Samsung Electronics‘ Device Solutions (DS) Division, announced that the company is developing an AI accelerator, Mach-1, which aims to “reduce memory processing volume by one-eighth and achieve eight times the power efficiency.”

Currently under development at the recently opened artificial general intelligence (AGI) computing lab within the DS division, Mach-1 is designed to reduce bottlenecks in information exchange between graphic processing units (GPUs) and memory chips while enhancing power efficiency. Samsung’s move is viewed as a bold one given Nvidia Corp.’s current dominance in the AI accelerator market. “We will see systems with our chips embedded by early 2025,” Kyung said.

Kyung Kye-hyun. [Courtesy of Samsung Electronics Co.]

The positive development saw Samsung Electronics’ stocks closed at 76,900 won ($57.37) on Wednesday, up 5.6 percent from the previous trading day and the highest since early January 2024.

Meanwhile, SK hynix unveiled a new memory product optimized for on-device artificial intelligence (AI) in personal computers at GTC 2024, the chipmaker said on Wednesday.

SK hynix‘s new memory, dubbed PCB01, is a fifth-generation Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) solid-state drive (SSD) boasting industry-leading reading and writing speeds of 14 gigabytes (GB) per second and 12 GB per second respectively. They are also twice the speed of the previous generation, facilitating the loading of large language models (LLMs) required for generative AI training and inference in less than a second.

Single-level-cell (SLC) caching technology was applied to enhance both AI services and general PC operations, allowing for the swift reading and writing of essential data only. PCB01 also reduces power consumption by 30 percent compared to the previous generation.

SK hynix aims to finalize the development of PCB01 in the first half of 2024 and intends to launch products for both large corporate customers and general consumers by the end of the year.