Processors

ARM's new chips set a new foundation for machine learning on mobile

by Victor Hristov

May 29, 2017, 3:29 AM

ARM's new chips set a new foundation for machine learning on mobile

Mobile chip designer ARM has just officially unveiled its next generation of CPU cores: the ARM Cortex A75 and Cortex A55, two cores that could power the best mobile chips in the near future.

The high-performance Cortex A75 chip in particular promises a 20% boost in performance over the Cortex A73 core that is now used in the top mobile chips. It will also deliver a 16% better memory throughput and a total of 34% boost in Geekbench scores. This boost is achieved while sustaining the same performance as the A73. The Cortex A55, on the other hand, achieves another impressive milestone: best power-efficiency in a mid-range chip with the added bonus of the new Mali-G72 graphics chip that also works at a 25% power-efficiency savings compared to its predecessor, the G71.

These are all evolutionary improvements, though, while the more revolutionary aspect of the new chips are a new set of processing components dedicated solely to machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). With these new chips inside the chip, mobile devices will be able to perform machine-learning tasks without having to rely on a cloud far away and without having to rely on the quality of external bandwidth.

A massive, 50 times improvement in AI performance is coming soon

According to ARM marketing chief John Ronco, there will be a "50x improvement in AI performance over the next three to five years thanks to better architecture, micro-architecture, and software optimizations."

The new family of chips also is the first to benefit from a new paradigm: Dynamiq CPUs. While previously you have the big.LITTLE match-up, where you could pair up a "big" high-performance chip (usually A7x) and a "LITTLE", more power-efficient chip (usually A5x), with Dynamiq you have much more flexibility in pairing up different cores, even within a single cluster.

Expect the first commercial mobile devices using the new Cortex A75 and Cortex A55 in the first quarter of 2018.

source: ARM

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4 Comments

3. RoyCap

Posts: 13; Member since: May 23, 2017

Ok Google will already put their TPU in the Pixel 2 or 3.

posted on May 29, 2017, 7:30 AM 0

1. byazatt

Posts: 316; Member since: Oct 26, 2012

Just when I thought things were exciting enough this year!

posted on May 29, 2017, 3:46 AM 1

2. Bankz

Posts: 2555; Member since: Apr 08, 2016

The worlds greatest smartphone processor. Apple will already have a 3 year advantage on android with this chip and I can already see them topping the SD855 in 2019 with this a11 chip tbh, just like the A10 will top the sd 845 next year.

posted on May 29, 2017, 5:00 AM 1

4. AmashAziz

Posts: 2934; Member since: Jun 30, 2014

Top the 845 in what, CPU peak power? Maybe. But not in efficiency in my opinion. Plus, it's 16nm LPP, while 845 could be 7nm LPE, making the latter a much more advanced chip in terms of architecture. It would also have a smaller die size.