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Home News Preferred Networks MN-Core 2 for HPC and AI

Preferred Networks MN-Core 2 for HPC and AI

By
Patrick Kennedy
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0
Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_05
Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_05

Preferred Networks is demonstrating its second-generation MN-Core architecture, dubbed “MN-Core 2,” for HPC and AI workloads at Hot Chips 2024.

Please note this is the last presentation, so please excuse any typos.

Preferred Networks MN-Core 2 for HPC and AI

The MN-Core 2 is focused on HPC and AI cluster tasks, and specifically power efficient compute.

Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_02
Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_02

You may not have heard about Preferred Networks, so here is the “Who are we?” slide.

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Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_04

MN-Core is moving from TSMC 12nm in the first generation to TSMC 7nm. The company said the MN-Core 2 is already up and running.

Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_05
Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_05

The MN-3 supercomputer has landed in the Green500 using the 500W TDP parts.

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Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_06

The MN-Core 2 is only a 330W part, but it has more DRAM bandwidth and lower compute performance.

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Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_07

This is a confusing slide. It has lower performance per TDP than the NVIDIA H100 and MI300X, but better than the NVIDIA A100.

Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_08
Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_08

It perhaps makes sense then that the company is showing off its new chip versus the four-year-old NVIDIA A100.

Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_09
Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_09

Here is the architecture with processing elements, matrix math blocks, and then broadcast blocks.

Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_10
Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_10

Her is the processing element core architecture:

Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_11
Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_11

Here is the L1 and L2 network:

Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_12
Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_12

It looks like the new MN-Core 2 uses faster GDDR6X memory but uses a smaller die to help with cost. This is a case where it is a lower cost per chip, but not necessarily a lot higher performance per chip in the new generation.

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Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_13

The company has a compiler for the parts and AI.

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Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_14

One can port workloads to MN-Core with a few changes.

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Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_15

The MN-Server 2 V1 is 20,000,000 Yen, or just under $140K USD. The MN-Core Devkit is around 2,000,000 Yen or under $14K USD.

Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_16
Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_16

Here is the architecture summary:

Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_17
Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_17

MN-Core 2 looks like it will spawn two variants for learning and for LLM inference.

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Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_18

Here is the presentation summary.

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Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_19

Here is the performance of the MN-Core

Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_22
Preferred Networks MN Core 2 Hot Chips 2024_Page_22

That is what we have.

Final Words

This is a team that has made it on the Green500 list a few times. At the same time, the question is whether this is more of a development platform, or something that is trying to compete with other solutions on the market. Hot Chips sometimes just accepts talks on interesting chips. Perhaps this is one of those.

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