21–30 of 123 posts
I have been worried about this trend: if they don't open it up, things like this introduce a disparity between startups that can only have access to GPUs and big companies that make their own proprietary ASICs for their proprietary software, such that startups cannot complete.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think when you add "why try to reinvent the wheel?" to the end, it is less of a question and more of a statement. Similar to saying, "Why would you do that?" after someone does something silly. You aren't actually asking them why they'd do the thing. You're saying they ought not have.
But they didn't say that?
I have been worried about this trend: if they don't open it up, things like this introduce a disparity between startups that can only have access to GPUs and big companies that make their own proprietary ASICs for their proprietary software, such that startups cannot complete.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They considered it sure - but why did they conclude they should go with an ASIC? That's what grandparent asked and it was a reasonable question. "They considered that" isn't a suitable answer.
The rest of the reply seems to be an answer (as far as you can get with Apple) I don't think it's wild speculation to say Apple is looking for efficiencies they may not have been able to get with GPUs especially performance-per-watt since so many of their devices are mobile focused
I have been worried about this trend: if they don't open it up, things like this introduce a disparity between startups that can only have access to GPUs and big companies that make their own proprietary ASICs for their proprietary software, such that startups cannot complete.
The flip side is that there is pretty obviously a market for such a product. If it isn't released by google or apple, it will be released by someone else. If it isn't, then that is a pretty good idea for a startup.
I have been worried about this trend: if they don't open it up, things like this introduce a disparity between startups that can only have access to GPUs and big companies that make their own proprietary ASICs for their proprietary software, such that startups cannot complete.
The flip side is that there is pretty obviously a market for such a product. If it isn't released by google or apple, it will be released by someone else. If it isn't, then that is a pretty good idea for a startup.
I have been worried about this trend: if they don't open it up, things like this introduce a disparity between startups that can only have access to GPUs and big companies that make their own proprietary ASICs for their proprietary software, such that startups cannot complete.
I have been worried about this trend: if they don't open it up, things like this introduce a disparity between startups that can only have access to GPUs and big companies that make their own proprietary ASICs for their proprietary software, such that startups cannot complete.
Won't it likely be in their interest to make those capabilities open to 3rd parties? My guess: the platforms that don't will suffer in experience.
Why not use a gpu. A lot of AI stuff is linear algebra: Multiply accumulate etc.
Also, inference is usually happy with int8s whereas graphics workloads are mostly float32s. So you can save a lot of hardware that way too.
I have been worried about this trend: if they don't open it up, things like this introduce a disparity between startups that can only have access to GPUs and big companies that make their own proprietary ASICs for their proprietary software, such that startups cannot complete.
So you rent or borrow from a bigger company while you can (Cloud TPUs), or your specialize in doing things that big companies with inflexible purpose-built hardware can't.