Samsung Electronics develops artificial intelligence HBM-PIM

Samsung Electronics announced that it has developed HBM-PIM (Processing-in-Memory), which combines a memory semiconductor and an artificial intelligence processor.

PIM (Processing-in-Memory) is a next-generation new concept convergence technology that adds processor functions necessary for computational tasks inside the memory.

Using PIM technology, Samsung Electronics developed HBM-PIM equipped with an artificial intelligence engine on HBM (High Bandwidth Memory)2 Aquabolt, which is used for high-speed data analysis such as supercomputer (HPC) and AI.

When HBM-PIM is installed in the AI ​​system, the performance is about twice as high as that of the existing HBM2 system and the system energy is reduced by more than 70%.

In addition, by supporting the existing HBM interface as it is, customers using HBM can build a powerful AI accelerator system through HBM-PIM without changing hardware or software.

Recently, as the application area of ​​artificial intelligence has been expanded and technology has been advanced, the demand for high-performance memory has continuously increased, but it was difficult to overcome the limitations of the von Neumann structure with the existing memory, the company explained.

The von Neumann architecture is a method used in most computers today, in which the CPU loads and executes instructions from memory, and stores the results back in memory. In this process, if the amount of data exchanged between the CPU and the memory increases, the work processing is delayed.

To overcome this, Samsung Electronics announced that it installed an artificial intelligence engine in each bank inside the memory and maximized parallel processing to increase performance. In addition, HBM-PIM can perform calculation processing inside the memory, reducing data movement between the CPU and memory, thereby increasing the energy efficiency of the AI ​​accelerator system.

“HBM-PIM is the first artificial intelligence customized PIM solution that can maximize the performance of AI accelerators,” said Park Kwang-il, head of the product planning team at Samsung Electronics' memory business unit. We will build it up.” 

In the first half of the year, Samsung Electronics plans to complete test verification by mounting HBM-PIM in AI accelerators of various customers and plans to strengthen cooperation with customers to standardize the PIM platform and build an ecosystem.