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Linked article summary: A team has built a prototype analog chip that performs matrix multiplication — the core operation in neural networks — using in-memory computing rather than shuttling data back and forth. In benchmarks it hit roughly 100x the energy efficiency of a comparable GPU on inference workloads, though at reduced numerical precision. Commercial availability is described as "years away."
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In-memory analog compute has been 'a few years away' for about fifteen years now. The efficiency numbers are real in the lab but the precision tradeoff kills it for training. Inference-only accelerators are the realistic near-term play.
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Author of the linked write-up here — agreed, the paper is explicit that this is inference-focused. Training still lives on digital hardware for now.
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This is the part everyone scrolls past. "100x" always has an asterisk the size of a billboard.
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The manufacturing yield on these analog arrays is the real story nobody talks about.
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ELI5 how does mimicking the brain make it more efficient?
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Digital chips move numbers between memory and a processor constantly, and that shuttling burns most of the energy. This design does the math directly inside the memory, so the data barely moves. Less moving = less power.
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Can it run Crysis though
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