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专访Imagination首席营销官 GPU和AI发展推动产业进步

佚名编辑：王珅发布于：2023-03-07 18:32 PConline原创

Imagination是领先的GPU、CPU、AI加速器和连接IP供应商，依靠其技术能够实现出色的功耗、性能和面积（PPA）、推动产品快速上市并降低总拥有成本。全球数十亿人的智能手机、汽车、家庭和工作场所都在使用基于Imagination IP的产品。

近日，PConline有幸与线上采访到了Imagination Technologies首席营销官David Harold先生，就着AI等热点话题进行了探讨，以下为本次采访内容。

PConline提问：请问Imagination目前有哪些最新的技术和应用？

Imagination Answers:

Imagination IP is available to be licensed and works on a royalty-based model. To enable easier access to market-leading IP for start-ups and scale-ups, Imagination has created the Open Access program, offering a select graphics and AI IP without the initial licensing fee.

Imagination回答：

Imagination以收取授权费的方式授权自己的IP。为了让初创企业和规模企业更容易获得领先的IP，Imagination创建了Open Access计划提供精选的图形和AI IP，而且免去了初始授权费。

PConline提问：近日，联想联合IDC发布了《超时空智慧办公白皮书》，其中预测了2025年中国将有超20%的企业将使用机器人等应用，包含AI绘画、行为分析等。这预示近几年AI应用需求将有指数级上涨。请问Imagination目前在AI芯片行业内有哪些优势？Imagination将在哪些行业/领域发力？

Imagination Answers: Both Imagination GPU and artificial intelligence accelerator IP are designed for AI applications. Our AI accelerator IP enables us to drive innovation across automotive and IoT devices that run on neural networks. We have a highly competitive product, offering 10-100x the inferencing performance of other embedded solutions.

In terms of applications, a major focus is ADAS in automotive, as smarter cars are manufactured in line with an increasing demand. Coming equipped with a range of sensors, cars now capture incredible amounts of data including camera and LiDAR information. GPUs and AI accelerators can work hand in hand in this type of application, helping the car accurately sense the environment it’s in, process it and feed it back to the driver or take safety-critical actions such as breaking. AI and GPU compute will play an ever-increasing role in driving the autonomous driving industry forward.

There is a wide range of applications for AI beyond just automotive, with many consumer products having integrated this technology in one way or another. An example would be our work with Visidon, where our IMG Series4 AI accelerator is used in conjunction with advanced algorithms to enable AI super resolution on edge devices.

Imagination回答：Imagination的GPU和AI加速器IP都是为AI应用而设计的。我们的AI加速器IP使我们能够推动在神经网络上运行的各种汽车和物联网设备创新。我们的产品极具竞争力，其推理性能是其他嵌入式解决方案的10-100倍。

随着更加智能的汽车随着需求的增加而被制造出来，汽车中的ADAS已成为重点应用。汽车上的各种传感器会采集大量数据，包括摄像头和激光雷达信息。GPU和AI加速器可以在此类应用中一起帮助汽车准确感知它所处的环境、处理这些信息并将其反馈给驾驶员，或者采取刹车等关键的安全行动。AI和GPU计算将在推动自动驾驶行业的发展中发挥越来越大的作用。

AI的应用范围很广，不仅仅是汽车，许多消费产品都以这种或那种方式整合这项技术。以我们与Visidon的合作为例，我们的IMG Series4 AI加速器在与先进的算法结合后，在边缘设备上实现了AI超级分辨率。

PConline提问：自动驾驶对于神经计算需求逐渐增加，车载大屏也增加了GPU的需求。Imagination目前在汽车市场的占比是多少，有哪些最新的技术应用和解决方案？

Imagination Answers: Imagination has a market share of over 40% in graphics and HMI for automotive. Our leadership in this space is thanks to our innovative PPA, and scalable GPU designs.

GPUs are traditionally viewed as a processor for graphics, and indeed many vehicles require this type of IP application to run a variety of screens – including IVI and cockpit. However, given the GPU’s inherent parallelism, it can also be used for compute tasks in ADAS applications – such as processing the data from the various sensors the car has. This means it can work in tandem or in lack of an AI accelerator – giving OEMs more flexibility when it comes to SoC design.

Imagination回答：在汽车图形和HMI领域，Imagination的市场份额已超过40%。我们在这一领域的领先优势要归功于我们创新的PPA和可扩展的GPU设计。

GPU以前一直被视为图形处理器。事实上，许多车辆需要这种类型的IP应用来运行各种屏幕，其中就包括IVI和驾驶舱。但鉴于GPU固有的并行性，它也可用于ADAS应用中的计算任务，比如处理来自汽车上各种传感器的数据，因此它可以与AI加速器协同工作，或在缺乏AI加速器的情况下工作，在SoC设计方面带给OEM更多的灵活性。

PConline提问：车企和移动终端企业客户对于GPU的需求有哪些不同？Imagination在研发GPU架构时有无明显差异化的设计？

Imagination Answers: A point of consistency between the two types of application is the need to strike the perfect PPA balance. Demand for electric vehicles is increasing, and OEMs are faced with the challenge of fully optimising electronics to ensure that power consumption is as efficient as possible. This is mirrored in mobile, where devices also run on batteries. Our experience in creating scalable GPUs means that we can maintain an ideal PPA across applications going from mobile to automotive, giving manufacturers the freedom to create efficient SoCs.

In terms of differentiators, when it comes to cars there are specific safety considerations that need to be considered. That is why we ensure all our automotive IP is ISO26262 certified, meeting the market’s strict safety critical requirements.

Mobile devices on the other hand are more entertainment focused. That’s why we are currently bringing premium features like ray tracing to the mainstream mobile with our latest IMG DXT GPU. Of course, we can see the application of ray traced visuals in an automotive dashboard as well, with more realistic car models and environmental reflections.

In both cases scalability is essential, allowing manufacturers to fine-tune their designs to meet their objectives within their power availability.

Imagination回答：这两类应用的一个共同点是需要在PPA方面实现完美的平衡。市场对电动汽车的需求正在增加，OEM正面临着全面优化电子器件以最大程度地节省电能的挑战。这个挑战也出现在设备同样依靠电池运行的移动领域。依靠创建可扩展GPU方面的经验，我们可以在从移动到汽车等各种应用中保持理想的PPA，使制造商能够自由创建高效的SoC。

两者的区别在于，汽车行业需要考虑具体的安全因素。所以我们要确保我们所有汽车IP都通过ISO26262认证，已达到该市场严格的安全要求。

而移动设备更侧重于娱乐。因此我们目前正在使用我们最新的IMG DXT GPU为主流移动设备带来像光追这样的高端功能。当然，我们也可以看到光追的视觉效果在汽车仪表盘上的应用以及更加真实的汽车模型和环境反射。

可扩展性在这两个行业都至关重要，制造商需要能够微调他们的设计，从而在可用的功率范围内实现他们的目标。

PConline提问：您认为Imagination在消费级PC领域有哪些突破口？Imagination GPU是如何布局的呢？技术上有什么优势呢？

Imagination Answers: Our advantage is that our GPUs are designed to scale without hurting PPA. This means we can create highly efficient and high-performing design solutions for desktop and data centre applications. Scaling our solutions to a server PC means more efficient processing in smaller footprints which in turn has a significant impact on the space and energy costs for the owner.

Thanks to the same small footprint, Imagination GPUs are ideal for discrete graphics applications including laptop and Chromebook-type devices.

Imagination回答：我们的优势在于，我们的GPU可以在不影响PPA的情况下进行扩展。这意味着我们可以为桌面和数据中心应用创造高效率、高性能的设计方案。我们的解决方案可以扩展到服务器PC上，在更小的空间内进行更加高效的处理，大幅降低了客户的空间和能源成本。

Imagination GPU凭借不变的小尺寸成为了笔记本电脑、Chromebook设备等各种图形应用的理想选择。

PConline提问：2023年中国半导体市场会有哪些新的变化？Imagination有哪些成长策略？

Imagination Answers: China is a market with great potential when it comes to driving tech innovation. There have been several product launches in the past year, including Innosilicon’s Fantasy One graphics card, which show a lot of promise for the market in the data center and desktop space. We are working closely with customers to help bring more innovative solutions to the market.

Imagination回答：中国是一个具有巨大科技创新潜力的市场。在过去的一年里已经有几款产品推出，包括芯动科技的“风华”系列显卡。这些产品展现了数据中心和桌面市场的巨大前景。我们正在与客户密切合作，为该市场带来更多的创新解决方案。