Synopsys ARC NPX6 NPU Family for AI / Neural Processing

Synopsys ARC® NPX Neural Processor IP family provides a high-performance, power- and area-efficient IP solution for a range of applications requiring AI-enabled SoCs. The ARC NPX6 NPU IP is designed for deep learning algorithm coverage including both computer vision tasks such as object detection, image quality improvement, and scene segmentation, and for broader AI applications, including generative AI.

The NPX6 NPU family offers multiple products to choose from to meet your specific application requirements. The architecture is based on individual cores that can scale from 1K MACs to 96K MACs for a single AI engine performance of over 250 TOPS and over 440 TOPS with sparsity. The NPX6 NPU IP includes hardware and software support for multi-NPU clusters of up to 8 NPUs achieving 3500 TOPS with sparsity. Advanced bandwidth features in hardware and software, and a memory hierarchy (including L1 memory in each core and a high-performance, low-latency interconnect to access a shared L2 memory) make scaling to a high MAC count possible. An optional tensor floating point unit is available for applications benefiting from BF16 or FP16 inside the neural network.

To speed application software development, the ARC NPX6 NPU Processor IP is supported by the MetaWare MX Development Toolkit, a comprehensive software programming environment that includes a neural network Software Development Kit (NN SDK) and support for virtual models. The NN SDK automatically converts neural networks trained using popular frameworks, like Pytorch, Tensorflow, or ONNX into optimized executable code for the NPX hardware.

The NPX6 NPU Processor IP can be used to create a range of products – from a few TOPS to 1000s of TOPS – that can be programmed with a single toolchain.

ARC NPX6 NPU Family for AI / Neural Processing Block Diagram

Synopsys ARC NPX6 NPU Family for AI / Neural Processing

 

Highlights
Products
Downloads and Documentation
  • Scalable real-time AI / neural processor IP with up to 3,500 TOPS performance
  • Supports CNNs, transformers, including generative AI, recommender networks, RNNs/LSTMs, etc.
  • Industry leading power efficiency (up to 30 TOPS/W)
  • One 1K MAC core or 1-24 cores of an enhanced 4K MAC/core convolution accelerator
  • Tensor accelerator providing flexible activation and support of Tensor Operator Set Architecture (TOSA)
  • Software Development Kit
    • Automatic mixed mode quantization tools
  • Bandwidth reduction through architecture and software tool features
  • Latency reduction through parallel processing of individual layers
  • Seamless integration with Synopsys ARC VPX vector DSPs
  • High productivity MetaWare MX Development Toolkit supports Tensorflow and Pytorch frameworks and ONNX exchange format
Enhanced Neural Processing Unit providing 12,288 MACs/cycle of performance for AI applicationsSTARs Subscribe
Enhanced Neural Processing Unit providing 16,384 MACs/cycle of performance for AI applicationsSTARs Subscribe
Enhanced Neural Processing Unit providing 1024 MACs/cycle of performance for AI applicationsSTARs Subscribe
Enhanced Neural Processing Unit providing 24,576 MACs/cycle of performance for AI applicationsSTARs Subscribe
Enhanced Neural Processing Unit providing 32,768 MACs/cycle of performance for AI applicationsSTARs Subscribe
Enhanced Neural Processing Unit providing 49,152 MACs/cycle of performance for AI applicationsSTARs Subscribe
Enhanced Neural Processing Unit providing 4096 MACs/cycle of performance for AI applicationsSTARs Subscribe
Enhanced Neural Processing Unit providing 65,536 MACs/cycle of performance for AI applicationsSTARs Subscribe
Enhanced Neural Processing Unit providing 8,192 MACs/cycle of performance for AI applicationsSTARs Subscribe
Enhanced Neural Processing Unit providing 98,304 MACs/cycle of performance for AI applicationsSTARs Subscribe
Optional extension of NPX6 NPU tensor operations to include floating-point support with BF16 or BF16+FP16STARs Subscribe
Description: Enhanced Neural Processing Unit providing 1024 MACs/cycle of performance for AI applications
Name: dwc_arc_npx6_1k_npu
Version: 2.00a
ECCN: 3E991/NLR
STARs: Open and/or Closed STARs
myDesignWare: Subscribe for Notifications
Product Type: DesignWare Cores
Documentation:
Download: arc_npx6_npu
Product Code: H557-0
Description: Enhanced Neural Processing Unit providing 12,288 MACs/cycle of performance for AI applications
Name: dwc_arc_npx6_12k_npu
Version: 2.00a
ECCN: 3E991/NLR
STARs: Open and/or Closed STARs
myDesignWare: Subscribe for Notifications
Product Type: DesignWare Cores
Documentation:
Download: arc_npx6_npu
Product Code: H024-0
Description: Enhanced Neural Processing Unit providing 16,384 MACs/cycle of performance for AI applications
Name: dwc_arc_npx6_16k_npu
Version: 2.00a
ECCN: 3E991/NLR
STARs: Open and/or Closed STARs
myDesignWare: Subscribe for Notifications
Product Type: DesignWare Cores
Documentation:
Download: arc_npx6_16k_npu
Product Code: H025-0
Description: Enhanced Neural Processing Unit providing 24,576 MACs/cycle of performance for AI applications
Name: dwc_arc_npx6_24k_npu
Version: 2.00a
ECCN: 3E991/NLR
STARs: Open and/or Closed STARs
myDesignWare: Subscribe for Notifications
Product Type: DesignWare Cores
Documentation:
Download: arc_npx6_npu
Product Code: H026-0
Description: Enhanced Neural Processing Unit providing 32,768 MACs/cycle of performance for AI applications
Name: dwc_arc_npx6_32k_npu
Version: 2.00a
ECCN: 3E991/NLR
STARs: Open and/or Closed STARs
myDesignWare: Subscribe for Notifications
Product Type: DesignWare Cores
Documentation:
Download: arc_npx6_npu
Product Code: H027-0
Description: Enhanced Neural Processing Unit providing 4096 MACs/cycle of performance for AI applications
Name: dwc_arc_npx6_4k_npu
Version: 2.00a
ECCN: 3E991/NLR
STARs: Open and/or Closed STARs
myDesignWare: Subscribe for Notifications
Product Type: DesignWare Cores
Documentation:
Download: arc_npx6_npu
Product Code: H021-0
Description: Enhanced Neural Processing Unit providing 49,152 MACs/cycle of performance for AI applications
Name: dwc_arc_npx6_48k_npu
Version: 2.00a
ECCN: 3E991/NLR
STARs: Open and/or Closed STARs
myDesignWare: Subscribe for Notifications
Product Type: DesignWare Cores
Documentation:
Download: arc_npx6_npu
Product Code: H028-0
Description: Enhanced Neural Processing Unit providing 65,536 MACs/cycle of performance for AI applications
Name: dwc_arc_npx6_64k_npu
Version: 2.00a
ECCN: 3E991/NLR
STARs: Open and/or Closed STARs
myDesignWare: Subscribe for Notifications
Product Type: DesignWare Cores
Documentation:
Download: arc_npx6_npu
Product Code: H029-0
Description: Enhanced Neural Processing Unit providing 8,192 MACs/cycle of performance for AI applications
Name: dwc_arc_npx6_8k_npu
Version: 2.00a
ECCN: 3E991/NLR
STARs: Open and/or Closed STARs
myDesignWare: Subscribe for Notifications
Product Type: DesignWare Cores
Documentation:
Download: dwc_arc_npx6_8k_npu
Product Code: H023-0
Description: Enhanced Neural Processing Unit providing 98,304 MACs/cycle of performance for AI applications
Name: dwc_arc_npx6_96k_npu
Version: 2.00a
ECCN: 3E991/NLR
STARs: Open and/or Closed STARs
myDesignWare: Subscribe for Notifications
Product Type: DesignWare Cores
Documentation:
Download: arc_npx6_npu
Description: Optional extension of NPX6 NPU tensor operations to include floating-point support with BF16 or BF16+FP16
Name: dwc_arc_npx6_tensor_fpu_option
Version: 2.00a
ECCN: 3E991/NLR
STARs: Open and/or Closed STARs
myDesignWare: Subscribe for Notifications
Product Type: DesignWare Cores
Documentation:
Download: arc_npx6_npu
Product Code: H034-0