Weebit Nano (ASX: WBT), the Israel-based semiconductor company seeking to develop and commercialize the next generation of memory technology, and CEA-Leti, a global leader in miniaturization technologies enabling smart, energy-efficient and secure solutions for industry, will demonstrate a new neuromorphic demo able to perform precise object recognition tasks in an energy-efficient manner at Flash Memory Summit 2019.
Flash Memory Summit, held annually in Silicon Valley, is the world’s premiere flash memory conference and expo. It showcases the mainstream applications, technologies, vendors and innovations in the multi-billion dollar non-volatile memory and SSD markets that include demanding enterprise storage applications, smartphones, tablets, and mobile and embedded systems.
The neuromorphic demo uses the latest Weebit SiOx ReRAM technology, running inference tasks use Spiking Neural Network (SNN) algorithms developed by CEA-Leti’s team. It is a powerful proof-of-concept circuit, showcasing the future where circuits will operate similarly to the human brain. In this instance a bio-inspired architecture using Weebit’s ReRAM technology will implement synapses in a way which mimics human biological synapse activity. Unlike AI circuits which use standard processors and are implemented via software algorithms trying to simulate the synapse function, this demo uses a hardware topology which looks and functions very much like the neurons and synapses in the brain.
This ground-breaking technology enables greatly increased parallel connectivity compared to current circuits. This will result in extremely energy efficient, fast and dense AI computation in the future, ultimately fitting many more types of applications.
Coby Hanoch, CEO of Weebit Nano, said: “Artificial Intelligence is expanding rapidly. We are seeing applications in face recognition, autonomous vehicles, and use in medical prognosis, to name just a few domains. It is touching almost every aspect of our lives. Today’s state-of-the-art applications use digital computers trying to simulate the ways the brain performs these tasks. However, using Neuromorphic techniques based on ReRAM technology has the potential to emulate the way the brain works, and making the computing process significantly more efficient. This has the potential to become the platform of choice for many researchers in the AI domain.
“While our focus as a company, and thus our partnership with CEA-Leti, is on standard uses of non-volatile memory, we are not neglecting the huge potential of AI in the future. CEA-Leti is a leading research institute in the domain of neuromorphic computing.
Jean-René Lèquepeys, CTO at CEA-Leti, said: “Combining CEA-Leti’s artificial spiking neural networks (SNN) technology and Weebit’s novel SiOx ReRAM technology may accelerate development of brain-inspired architectures and show the way to powerful new applications in AI and neuromorphic computing, starting with object-recognition capabilities. This demo is a first step towards that breakthrough.”
Weebit and CEA-Leti will demonstrate this demo at CEA-Leti’s booth at Flash Memory Summit 2019, booth #852, on 6-8 August, 2019 in Santa Clara, California.