Partnership Poised to Plunder Nvidia Profits: FPGA for Ai
Samsung and Naver Team Up for Ai Hardware
12/21/20232 min read


In a groundbreaking partnership that's set to shake up the world of artificial intelligence (AI), Samsung Electronics and Naver have joined forces to create a specialized semiconductor solution designed specifically for large-scale AI models. This collaboration is set to bring about a new era of AI innovation, combining Samsung's unparalleled chip production prowess and advanced memory technologies with Naver's expertise in AI.
According to a report by BusinessKorea, the first solution from the companies is said to be eight times more power efficient than Nvidia's AI GPUs, based on their data. This is a significant development that's sure to turn heads in the industry, as power efficiency is a critical factor in the development of AI technology.
The two companies recently demonstrated their first AI semiconductor solution, which is based on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) tailored for inference for the Naver HyperCLOVA X large language model. Naver has stated that this AI solution is eight times more power efficient than Nvidia's AI GPUs, thanks to the usage of LPDDR memory, although other details about the device remain unclear.
Samsung and Naver began working together in late 2022, with a focus on using Samsung's advanced process technologies and leveraging high-tech memory solutions like computational storage, processing-in-memory (PIM), processing-near-memory (PNM), and Compute Express Link (CXL). These technologies are expected to play a crucial role in the development of Samsung and Naver's upcoming AI solutions.Memory is a critical component of Samsung and Naver's AI solutions, and Samsung already produces and sells various types of memory and storage technologies used for AI applications, including SmartSSDs, HBM-PIM, and memory extenders with the CXL interface.
Jinman Han, Executive Vice President of Memory Global Sales & Marketing at Samsung Electronics, had this to say about the collaboration: "Through our collaboration with Naver, we will develop cutting-edge semiconductor solutions to solve the memory bottleneck in large-scale AI systems. With tailored solutions that reflect the most pressing needs of AI service providers and users, we are committed to broadening our market-leading memory lineup including computational storage, PIM and more, to fully accommodate the ever-increasing scale of data."
This partnership between Samsung and Naver is a game-changer in the world of AI, and it's sure to lead to some exciting developments in the near future. With their combined expertise and resources, these two industry giants are poised to make a significant impact on the world of AI technology.
Edited and written by David J Ritchie