Arm Holds Tech Symposia 2019 Following China and Japan
Increasing Attempts to Apply ML to Mid-Range Devices
Arm Ethos NPU Product Family Optimized for ML


As market demand for AI increases, machine learning implementation cases are growing not only in high-end devices but also in mid-range devices with limited resources. With 5G commercial services beginning in earnest, interest in large-capacity AI-related content such as VR and AR is also rising.

Accordingly, Arm announced four new processor IP products to prepare for the AI era.

On the 12th, Arm held "Arm Tech Symposia 2019" with the theme "The New Era of Compute" at the Intercontinental Seoul COEX Hotel.

In the keynote speech, Jem Davies, Vice President and Head of Arm ML Division, introduced the 'Ethos-N57' and 'Ethos-N37' NPUs optimized for AI applications, the 'Mali-G57' GPU designed based on the Valhall architecture, and the 'Mali-D37' DPU suitable for small displays.

Arm Ethos is a product family designed to solve complex AI and ML computing problems. Following the Ethos-N77 announced on May 27, the Ethos-N57 and Ethos-N37 have been newly added. Both products are optimized for Int8·16 data type support.

The Ethos-N57, designed to provide a balanced system between ML performance and power efficiency, is optimized for the 2 TOP/s ML performance range, while the Ethos-N37, designed to provide an ML inference processor of less than 1mm2, is optimized for the 1 TOP/s ML performance range.

The Mali-G57 GPU based on the Valhall architecture, which offers 30% improved performance and power efficiency compared to the Mali-G52 based on the Bifrost architecture, realizes console-level graphics on mobile.

It provides 60% improved on-device ML performance for foveated rendering supported in VR and complex xR workloads.

The Mali-D37 DPU, suitable for mid-range devices and small display screens, can be configured in an area less than 1mm2 at 16nm for FHD and 2K resolution.

The Mali-D37 reduces system power by up to 30% through offloading core display operations in the memory interface, which includes the MMU-600 together with the GPU.

When combined with Assertive Display 5, it can realize key display features of the Mali-D71, including mixed HDR and SDR configurations.

Jem Davies, Vice President and Head of Arm ML Division, stated, "The four new processor IPs we launched this time are optimized for complex computing," and added, "They deliver high performance while providing higher area efficiency and power savings."

He further noted, "With improved ML performance, it is now possible to provide personalized immersive content with familiarity and immediate responsiveness to consumers," and stated, "Now AI technologies applied in the high-end device market will be put into full-scale use in the mid-range device market as well."

Meanwhile, Arm formally introduced 'Arm Flexible Access' to the Korean market at this event, which was previously disclosed at the 'Arm TechCon' held at the end of July. Arm Flexible Access is Arm's new contract model in which users only pay for the IP used at the actual production stage.