Samsung Aims To Launch Mach-1 AI Accelerator By 2025, Competing Against SK hynix & Rivaling NVIDIA

Samsung is all set to unveil its Mach-1 AI chip to combat NVIDIA and its arch-rival in the HBM segment, SK hynix.

The Korean giant has been pretty active in the AI industry recently, as the firm recently revealed plans to develop an AGI Computing Lab to accelerate R&D efforts in artificial general intelligence. Similarly, Kyung Kye-hyun, head of Samsung's semiconductor business, has revealed that the company plans to launch its very own AI chip soon, called the Mach-1 with the sole aim of standing out in the markets and giving tough competition to the likes of SK Hynix & Micron while disrupting NVIDIA's AI dominance.

The current AI systems have performance degradation and power issues due to memory bottlenecks. We will address this problem by establishing an AGI computing lab and achieving AI architecture innovation. Mach-1 is at the center of our R&D efforts.

- Kyung Kye-hyun

While details regarding Mach-1 haven't been revealed yet, as far as what the Samsung official has told us, it is an AI accelerator that comes with significantly improved performance by reducing the "bottlenecks" present within the GPU and memory tile onboard. Samsung sees its Mach-1 chip being employed for high-power inferencing tasks and expects massive adoption in the markets upon its release.

It is a product specified to fit the transformer model. By using several algorithms, we aim to reduce the bottleneck phenomenon that occurs between memory and GPU chips to one-eighth of what we’re witnessing today and improve the power efficiency by eight times.

It (Mach-1) will enable large language model (LLM) inference even with low-power memory instead of power-hungry HBM.

“We will make prototype (Mach-1) chips by the end of this year. Then, we will see AI systems using our latest AI chips early next year,”

- Kyung Kye-hyun (via KED Global)

Samsung has reportedly secured a deal from Korean AI firm, Naver, who are slowly reducing their reliance on NVIDIA chips. The deal includes $752 million worth of Mach-1 chips with additional quantities expected. In terms of when you expect the debut of Mach-1, it is reported that the chip has already reached early prototyping stages, which means that we can see it in the markets by early 2025.

Samsung is aggressively expanding its portfolio of AI products, and judging by the trends we are witnessing; it won't take long before the Korean giant sees itself among the top contenders.

News Source: KED Global