Huawei believes its new Flex:ai tool can help China create an AI chip “1,000 times faster” than what NVIDIA offers. The software is open source and was created to make better use of the potential of accelerators already available in the segment.
Flex:ai was officially announced last Friday, November 21st. It is based on the Kubernetes platform and was developed in partnership with scientists from universities in Shanghai, Xi’An and Xiamen. Huawei claims its new tool can extract up to 30% more utilization from a current AI accelerator.
The software serves to organize the work of the hardware around large-scale AI processing. Small, not very demanding tasks are “queued” for simultaneous processing, while large tasks that require more than one component are distributed evenly among several. Flex:ai divides GPUs and NPUs into virtual compute instances to direct workloads between different hardware components.
The “smart scheduler” that Huawei calls Hi Scheduler ensures that no resources are idle, redistributing AI workloads across available nodes in real time.
Huawei developed Flex:ai as a solution for Chinese hardware
The promises around Flex:ai are similar to the use of other tools of this type, such as Run:ai that NVIDIA acquired last year. The main difference of the new software, however, is that it was made with a focus on open source use and compatibility between accelerators from different manufacturers.
The idea is to favor the server and data center scenario in China, using various accelerators, mainly Ascend, from Huawei itself. If Flex:ai delivers on its promises, it should become preferable for companies that have not based their infrastructure entirely on CUDA.
Read more:
Flex:ai has been announced but is not yet available. Therefore, we have no third-party testing information about its advantages, and Huawei has not offered benchmark comparisons. We will have to wait for a specific date for its distribution.
Via: Tom’s Hardware
Join the Adrenaline offer group
Check out the main offers on hardware, components and other electronics that we found online. Video card, motherboard, RAM memory and everything you need to build your PC. By joining our group, you receive daily promotions and have early access to discount coupons.
Join the group and take advantage of promotions
Source: https://www.adrenaline.com.br/ia/huawei-promete-melhorar-uso-de-aceleradores-ia-em-30-com-nova-ferramenta-flexai/
