The AX45MPV is the third generation of the AndesCore vector processor series and is equipped with powerful RISC-V vector processing and parallel execution capability. According to Andes, target applications are those with large volumes of data such as ADAS, AI inference and training, AR/VR, multimedia, robotics, and signal processing.
With the goal to further raise the compute density, the AX45MPV extends the capabilities of the dual-issue 8-stage pipeline, Linux support and multicore of the AX45MP with the powerful vector processing unit inherited and enhanced from its predecessor, the NX27V.
While the AX45MPV is essentially a Linux application processor with datacentre grade AI capabilities, its support for Linux and multicore can be left out to form an efficient and powerful compute processor in processing elements (PEs) of a large compute array.
The dual-issue capability combined with up to 6 1024-bit vector (VLEN) results per cycle in the AX45MPV can provide more than 3X performance comparing with its predecessor. To fully exploit its higher computation power, the AX45MPV offers two 1024-bit memory interfaces. The new high-bandwidth vector local memory (HVM) option provides 1 or 2 HVM bank ports, which are suitable for vector loads/stores, and an external DMA engine to move chunks of data in the background through an AXI-based HVM Access Port.
For computation tasks requiring an integrated coprocessor control along with data transfer the Andes Streaming Port (ASP) combines the ASP and the HVM ports, and effectively doubles the processor’s memory bandwidth by being able to load 2 vector data per cycle.
The AX45MPV also supports the latest ACE (Andes Custom Extension), which helps customers to create their own RISC-V styled vector instructions. For example, ACE can be used to accelerate nonlinear math functions such as SoftMax on Transformer AI.
“Andes has been serving datacentre AI customers since 2019 with RISC-V Vector architecture and has accumulated rich experience. Equipped with the powerful 1024-bit vector unit, efficient support of multicore and Linux, and versatile configurations, the third generation of Andes vector processors AX45MPV is specially tailored for Large Language Models (LLMs). With the surge of generative AI applications in 2023, we see the AX45MPV taking the centre stage in AI and Machine Learning segments beyond the Cloud.”, said Dr. Charlie Su, President and CTO of Andes Technology.
Some customers from Asia and North America have already licensed the AX45MPV, and more are evaluating it.
The AX45MPV standard product package, without Linux support, is available immediately. Its advanced product package will come with Linux support and will be available in Q4 2023.
