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AMD CEO: The Next Challenge Is Energy Efficiency

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Re: AMD CEO: The Next Challenge Is Energy Efficiency

#2
Energy efficiency and improved packaging are things I can readily agree with. The last thing though - “hybrid algorithms leveraging AI efficiency” sounds an awful lot like a buzzword sales pitch.

This article reminds of this other one [1] posted about 1 month ago.

It’s an interview with some guys that just got done building an exascale supercomputer, in which it was originally estimated to need 1000 megawatts but ultimately only needs 60. The reporter asks about zettascale and the power requirements; they wave it off and say that the big question about whether it will even be possible in the next 10 years is getting the chip lithography small enough so that you can physically build a working zettascale supercomputer.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34604319

Re: AMD CEO: The Next Challenge Is Energy Efficiency

#3
post #2

Energy efficiency and improved packaging are things I can readily agree with. The last thing though - “hybrid algorithms leveraging AI efficiency” sounds an awful lot like a buzzword sales pitch. This article reminds of this other one [1] posted about 1 month ago. It’s an interview with some guys that just got done building an exascale supercomputer, in which it was originally estimated to need 1000 megawatts but ult…

What are hybrid algorithms supposed to be anyways? Half algorithm & half dictionary?

Half algorithm & half user manual?

Half algorithm & half class?

Re: AMD CEO: The Next Challenge Is Energy Efficiency

#4
post #3
post #2

Energy efficiency and improved packaging are things I can readily agree with. The last thing though - “hybrid algorithms leveraging AI efficiency” sounds an awful lot like a buzzword sales pitch. This article reminds of this other one [1] posted about 1 month ago. It’s an interview with some guys that just got done building an exascale supercomputer, in which it was originally estimated to need 1000 megawatts but ult…

What are hybrid algorithms supposed to be anyways? Half algorithm & half dictionary? Half algorithm & half user manual? Half algorithm & half class?

Half SQL statements and half array.sort() methods I assume.

Re: AMD CEO: The Next Challenge Is Energy Efficiency

#5
post #3
post #2

Energy efficiency and improved packaging are things I can readily agree with. The last thing though - “hybrid algorithms leveraging AI efficiency” sounds an awful lot like a buzzword sales pitch. This article reminds of this other one [1] posted about 1 month ago. It’s an interview with some guys that just got done building an exascale supercomputer, in which it was originally estimated to need 1000 megawatts but ult…

What are hybrid algorithms supposed to be anyways? Half algorithm & half dictionary? Half algorithm & half user manual? Half algorithm & half class?

From the article it looks like half AI guessing the solution, half some static algorithm fixing the result to be better. Not sure how it's supposed to really work.

Re: AMD CEO: The Next Challenge Is Energy Efficiency

#6
post #2

Energy efficiency and improved packaging are things I can readily agree with. The last thing though - “hybrid algorithms leveraging AI efficiency” sounds an awful lot like a buzzword sales pitch. This article reminds of this other one [1] posted about 1 month ago. It’s an interview with some guys that just got done building an exascale supercomputer, in which it was originally estimated to need 1000 megawatts but ult…

I assume it means using ML to choose between multiple algorithms instead of more traditional heuristics.

That or the algorithms use a combination battery and gasoline.

Re: AMD CEO: The Next Challenge Is Energy Efficiency

#7
When I was an undergrad, one of my professors was exploring “approximate” computation (forget what it was technically called). The gist was that you build mathematical circuitry that approximates an answer instead of giving you a concrete answer (kinda like floating point but also applied to Boolean algebra, integer math etc). The reasoning was that the approximation could let you reduce the power. I wonder where that line of research has gone.

Re: AMD CEO: The Next Challenge Is Energy Efficiency

#9

When I was an undergrad, one of my professors was exploring “approximate” computation (forget what it was technically called). The gist was that you build mathematical circuitry that approximates an answer instead of giving you a concrete answer (kinda like floating point but also applied to Boolean algebra, integer math etc). The reasoning was that the approximation could let you reduce the power. I wonder where tha…

What if all the text in your comment was approximately the correct set of letters in each word?

Re: AMD CEO: The Next Challenge Is Energy Efficiency

#10
Su is just talking up AMD’s strengths, many of which come care of TSMC and for which the original R&D was largely funded by Apple. She is not wrong, and AMD has certainly made large gains in HPC recently, but AMD does not monopolize all possible paths to success here.
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