Qualcomm data center AI chips in development could accelerate cloud biometrics

Qualcomm is developing chips to run artificial intelligence processes in data centers, which could make AI tasks including facial recognition and fraud detection faster, more common, and more sophisticated, CNET reports.

The Cloud AI 100 chip is planned for launch in 2020, and Qualcomm Senior Vice President Keith Kressin says he expects it to be roughly 10 times faster than current data center technology. Kressin also says that Qualcomm, which is one of the market leaders for smartphone chips, thinks in terms of performance per watt, and that the new chip positions the company well for the cloud AI market.

Apple and other companies, including startups, are working on custom AI chip technology, according to CNET, and Google already designs its own. Microsoft uses field programmable gate array (FPGA) processors in its data centers, but Kressin told CNET that AI has matured to the point that there is demand for specialized AI chips.

“It’s settled down to the point where the market is growing exponentially,” he says. “For us, it’s a multibillion-dollar market in the next couple years.”

The processor will be built by TSMC, with prototypes available in the second half of 2019.

A little closer to its traditional mobile chip strength, Qualcomm is providing chipsets for multi-factor biometric continuous authentication testing by DISA.

Article Topics

AI chips  |  artificial intelligence  |  biometrics  |  cloud services  |  data center  |  Qualcomm