Google says it has developed a way of using deep reinforcement learning (RL) to create computer chip floorplanning in just six hours — a complic

Google Uses AI to Design Computer Chips in Just 6 Hours

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2021-06-14 00:00:03

Google says it has developed a way of using deep reinforcement learning (RL) to create computer chip floorplanning in just six hours — a complicated feat that typically requires humans months to achieve.

The chips Google's AI develops are on par or superior than those humans can create, the team explained in its paper published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, June 9.

In a first for one of its commercial products, Google's research is being used for the company's upcoming tensor processing unit (TPU) chips, which are optimized for AI computation.

"Our method was used to design the next generation of Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators, and has the potential to save thousands of hours of human effort for each new generation," the team said.

The major breakthrough is that Google's AI method can be used for chip "floorplanning," which, as the paper said "Despite five decades of research, chip floorplanning has defied automation, requiring months of intense effort by physical design engineers to produce manufacturable layouts."