New processor boosts efficiency with 30% area and 20% power savings.
Cadence announced the Cadence TensilicaNeuroEdge 130 AI Co-Processor (AICP), a new class of processor designed to complement any neural processing unit (NPU) and enable end-to-end execution of the latest agentic and physical AI networks on advanced automotive, consumer, industrial and mobile SoCs. Based on the proven architecture of the highly successful Tensilica Vision DSP family, the NeuroEdge 130 AICP delivers more than 30% area savings and over 20% savings in dynamic power and energy without impacting performance. It also leverages the same software, AI compilers, libraries and frameworks to deliver faster time to market. Multiple customer engagements are currently underway, and customer interest is strong.
Featuring an extensible design that enables seamless compatibility with in-house NPUs, Cadence Neo NPUs and third-party NPU IP, the Tensilica NeuroEdge 130 AICP performs offloaded tasks with high performance and better efficiency than its application-specific predecessors. Taking the inherent power, performance and area (PPA) advantages of Tensilica DSPs to new levels, the NeuroEdge 130 AICP delivers over 30% area savings and a more than 20% reduction in dynamic power and energy with comparable performance to Tensilica Vision DSPs on AI networks and operators. Other benefits include:
- VLIW-based SIMD architecture with configurable options enables high performance and low power consumption
- Issues instructions and commands to the NPU as a control processor
- Optimized ISA and instructions run non-NPU optimal tasks such as ReLU, sigmoid, tanh and more
- Provides programmability, flexibility and future-readiness to the AI subsystem, allowing end-to-end execution of unseen and future AI workloads
The Tensilica NeuroEdge 130 AICP is supported by the Cadence NeuroWeave Software Development Kit (SDK), a single SDK used across all of Cadence’s AI IP. Leveraging the Tensor Virtual Machine (TVM) stack, the NeuroWeave SDK is easy to use and allows architects to tune, optimize and deploy their AI models for Cadence’s AI IP. The Tensilica NeuroEdge 130 AICP also comes equipped with a lightweight standalone AI library, allowing customers to directly program AI layers on the new processor and bypass potential overheads of some compiler frameworks.
Availability
The Tensilica NeuroEdge 130 AICP is generally available now and is ISO 26262-ready for the automotive market.
For more information, visit cadence.com.
