Intel is working on a new type of processor you've never heard of https://share.newsbreak.com/1j8gblhk
Intel has let slip information about a new type of processor soon to make its way into the company’s portfolio: the versatile processing unit, or VPU.
Although no formal announcement has been made, written materials published by Intel alongside a new Linux driver confirmed the existence of the processor, which is designed to accelerate AI inference workloads.
According to the documentation, the VPU will feature inside Intel’s 14th Gen Core CPUs (also known as Meteor Lake) and will improve inference performance across “computer vision and deep learning applications”. It is most likely the brainchild of the team behind Movidius, an AI acceleration company acquired by Intel in 2016.
TechRadar Pro asked Intel for further details, but did not receive an immediate response.
With rivals like Nvidia fighting to establish themselves as the leading chip maker of the AI era, Intel will be thinking hard about how to demonstrate its own credentials in the space.
Broadly speaking, there are two types of AI workload: training and inference. The former refers to the use of large-scale datasets to develop AI applications with specific capabilities, while the latter refers to the feeding of new data into these systems to generate a result.