New Hardware Validation Promises AI On-the-Go

Qualcomm Technologies and Samsung’s Tech Can Bring AI to Mobile Devices

With LPDDR5X DRAM now validated for Snapdragon mobile platforms, Samsung Electronics and Qualcomm Technologies appear to have opened the door to bringing high performance computing (HPC) features like artificial intelligence (AI) on the go. The memory technology operates at 8.5 gigabits per second while maintaining low-power consumption.

“At Qualcomm Technologies, we strive to be at the forefront of enabling and adopting the latest memory specifications on our Snapdragon mobile platforms,” said Ziad Asghar, vice president of Product Management at Qualcomm Technologies. “We’re the first in the mobile industry to enable the latest LPDDR5X at 8.5Gbps on Snapdragon mobile platforms, which will enhance user experiences with new features and improved performance for mobile, gaming, camera and AI applications.”

(Image courtesy of Samsung.)

(Image courtesy of Samsung.)

LPDDR DRAM is already making waves in the computational industry due to its high-performance at low-power. For example, it’s entering the PC market as an enabler to produce smaller and lighter high-performance laptops. It is also finding its way into data centers and edge servers as a way to reduce HPC power consumption, improve total cost of ownership and cut heat and carbon emissions.

“The joint validation of 8.5Gbps LPDDR5X DRAM has enabled us to accelerate market-wide availability of this high-speed memory interface by more than a year, which is a tremendous accomplishment made possible through our long-standing collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies,” said Daniel Lee, executive vice president of the Memory Product Planning Team at Samsung Electronics. “As LPDDR memory continues to broaden its usage beyond smartphones into AI and data center applications, strong collaboration between memory and SoC vendors is becoming all the more important. Samsung will continue to actively engage with innovators like Qualcomm Technologies to enhance ecosystem readiness for future LPDDR standards.”

The current application of LPDDR DRAM that will turn heads in the mobile market is its history with modern vehicles. As cars increasingly implement advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and edge closer to Level 3 vehicle autonomy (which has arguably arrived in the form Mercedes-Benz Drive Pilot— see thoughts on that here) vehicles will rely on more powerful on-board computational systems. The large sums of data generated by autonomous driving and the AI models that use it will require high-bandwidth, low-energy hardware—like what Samsung is claiming to offer here. If this hardware can be on-the-go in a car, now that it’s validated for Snapdragon, it’s easy to see how it can be brought on-the-go in our pockets.

Written by

Shawn Wasserman

For over 10 years, Shawn Wasserman has informed, inspired and engaged the engineering community through online content. As a senior writer at WTWH media, he produces branded content to help engineers streamline their operations via new tools, technologies and software. While a senior editor at Engineering.com, Shawn wrote stories about CAE, simulation, PLM, CAD, IoT, AI and more. During his time as the blog manager at Ansys, Shawn produced content featuring stories, tips, tricks and interesting use cases for CAE technologies. Shawn holds a master’s degree in Bioengineering from the University of Guelph and an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo.