1.15 billion artificial neurons arrive at Sandia
In a groundbreaking stride toward the future of computing, early this year, Sandia researchers welcomed the arrival of an extraordinary brain-based computing system called Hala Point. Packed with a staggering 1.15 billion artificial neurons — believed to be the biggest brain-based computing system in the world — and cleverly confined within a container roughly the size of a microwave oven, this technological marvel made its journey from its birthplace at Intel Corp. in Portland, Oregon, to Albuquerque.
The system’s purpose is to provide Sandia and NNSA research teams with the tools to realize brain-based computing on a large scale. At a smaller scale, the neuromorphic method has already demonstrated greater speed, accuracy and lower energy costs than conventional computing in several labs, including one at Sandia.
Compared with the system of 50 million artificial neurons received by Sandia from Intel three years earlier, dubbed Pohoiki Springs, the new system is 10-times faster, 15-times denser and has increased from 128,000 circuits on a single chip to 1 million.
