"Intelligent Computing Industry Technology Innovation Consortium" was established, announcing the world's first open-source neural network processor instruction set architecture

On July 15, 2021, under the guidance of the China Integrated Circuit Design and Innovation Alliance (ICDIA), the Institute of Integrated Circuits of Tsinghua University, ZTE Microelectronics, TCL Group Industrial Research Institute, Allwinner Technology, Rockchip Microelectronics, Changan Automobile Research The Open NPU InnovaTIon Alliance (ONIA) jointly initiated by a number of enterprises and institutions such as China Academy of Sciences, Qianhai Qijian, and Amou Technology was formally established. Mr. Wu Xiongang served as the first chairman of the board and hired Professor Wei Shaojun of Tsinghua University as the chief consultant, and Mr. Cheng Jinge as the expert consultant.

At the founding conference, ONIA also officially announced the world's first open-source neural network processor instruction set architecture (NPU ISA). This is the worlds first semiconductor technology innovation consortium dedicated to building an open-source NPU ISA. In the future, it will formulate, approve and maintain the open-source NPU ISA through standards collaboration and other methods, and set the direction for future specifications. The world's leading technology is the standard intelligent computing industry ecology, realizing the continuous evolution of NPU processor innovation and intelligent computing.

The key to the next generation of intelligent computing is to perceive and process different types of data streams in a massive, high-density, and real-time manner. The computing power of intelligent computing is increasingly being transferred from CPUs and GPUs to NPUs. Currently, the NPU based on the Domain Architecture (DSA) has achieved great success. In the future, with the new diversified computing power stacking and multi-domain computing needs, the next generation of the domain architecture-Super Domain Architecture (xDSA) is required to meet the corresponding requirements. Requirements and challenges, and solve the problem of fragmentation through the integration of multiple domains. The Intelligent Computing Industry Technology Innovation Consortium will promote the open-source NPU ISA to provide technical support for the next generation of xDAS.

Mr. Wu Xiongang, Chairman of the Intelligent Computing Industry Technology Innovation Consortium and Executive Chairman and CEO of Amou Technology (China) Co., Ltd., pointed out in his speech: "DSA-based NPU technology is developing rapidly and has become the core technology for building the intelligent computing era. Currently, The large number of NPU architectures in the industry has formed ecological fragmentation, which has increased the difficulty of technological breakthroughs and large-scale applications. In order to accelerate technological development and application landing, there is an urgent need for an open-source and unified NPU architecture, and an open-source is built around it. A flexible, co-constructed, and shared industrial ecosystem. The establishment of the Intelligent Computing Industry Technology Innovation Consortium is to become an active practitioner that relies on the open-source NPU architecture to promote the development of the intelligent computing industry."

The open-source NPU ISA announced by ONIA this time is true "China's first launch, global open source", which benefits from the outstanding strength of the consortium member units and industrial ecological partners in capital raising, R&D, and application, and ecological construction. In the future, the consortium will undertake the R&D, maintenance, and promotion of the worlds first open-source NPU ISA, and will use the R&D and use the experience of enterprises, universities, laboratories, and industry incubators in the industry chain to help the development of this open-source NPU ISA Application landing. The consortium will also serve as a unified, advanced, and efficient intelligent computing industry ecological practitioner in China, support technological evolution, support industry, and academia to achieve community cooperation, gather industry open-source ecological forces to jointly carry out intelligent computing industry-standard research, and build from Chinas local Initiated an intelligent computing industry ecosystem based on the world's leading technology.

The organizational structure of the "Intelligent Computing Industry Technology Innovation Consortium" is composed of council members, strategy members, committee members, and community members. At present, more than 50 industry-leading companies, think tanks, and research institutions have joined as founding members. The first batch of council members includes Tsinghua University College of Integrated Circuits, Shenzhen Zhongxing Microelectronics Technology Co., Ltd., TCL Group Industrial Research Institute, Rockchip Microelectronics Co., Ltd., Allwinner Technology Co., Ltd., Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., Ltd. Chemical Research Institute, Qianhai Qijian Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., Amou Technology (China) Co., Ltd., etc.; it is expected that the total number of various member units will exceed 100 by the end of 2021.