Intel reveals world’s biggest ‘brain-inspired’ neuromorphic computer
A computer intended to mimic the way the brain processes and stores data could potentially improve the efficiency and capabilities of artificial intelligence models
By Matthew Sparkes
17 April 2024
The Hala Point neuromorphic computer is powered by Intel’s Loihi 2 chips
Intel Corporation
Intel has created the world’s largest neuromorphic computer, a device intended to mimic the operation of the human brain. The firm hopes that it will be able to run more sophisticated AI models than is possible on conventional computers, but experts say there are engineering hurdles to overcome before the device can compete with the state of the art, let alone exceed it.
Expectations for neuromorphic computers are high because they are inherently different to traditional machines. While a regular computer uses its processor to carry out operations and stores data in separate memory, a neuromorphic device uses artificial neurons to both store and compute, just as our brains do. This removes the need to shuttle data back and forth between components, which can be a bottleneck for current computers.
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This architecture could bring far greater energy efficiency, with Intel claiming its new Hala Point neuromorphic computer uses 100 times less energy than conventional machines when running optimisation problems, which involve finding the best solution to a problem given certain constraints. It could also unlock new ways to train and run AI models that use chains of neurons, as real brains process information, rather than mechanically passing an input through each and every layer of artificial neurons, as current models do.
Hala Point contains 1.15 billion artificial neurons across 1152 Loihi 2 Chips, and is capable of 380 trillion synaptic operations per second. Mike Davies at Intel says that despite this power it occupies just six racks in a standard server case – a space similar to that of a microwave oven. Larger machines will be possible, says Davies. “We built this scale of system because, honestly, a billion neurons was a nice round number,” he says. “I mean, there wasn’t any particular technical engineering challenge that made us stop at this level.”
No other existing machine comes close to the scale of Hala Point, although DeepSouth, a neuromorphic computer due to be completed later this year, will be capable of a claimed 228 trillion synaptic operations per second.
