Arm is launching CSS (Compute Subsystem) for Client, an integrated set of technologies that aims to optimize AI workloads on edge devices.
The effort reflects how more AI workloads are going to be distributed to edge devices such as PCs and smartphones. Microsoft and its various PC partners launched a series of AI PCs and touted the ability to run models privately with no latency.
Arm CSS for Client plays to that theme. In a briefing, Chris Bergey, SVP & GM, Client Line of Business at Arm, said CSS for Client includes Armv9.2 architecture, the new Cortex-X CPU and its Immortalis GPU. The integrated software and hardware stack is designed to give developers the ability to accelerate machine learning, AI and generative AI.
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"AI is pushing the limits of compute in an additional direction and creating a whole host of new applications. We much now expose the power of CSS for Client to both these new applications and the software platforms on which they depend," said Bergey.
To go with CSS for Client, Arm also announced Kleidi libraries, a new set of software assets that can be embedded to unlock CSS for Client's compute capabilities. Kleidi will have two versions Kleidi AI and Kleidi CV (computer vision).
Here's a look at the components for CSS for Client:
- Arm's Cortex-X925 CPU, which has double digit increases for instructions per clock cycle from a year ago.
- Arm is offering three different CPI microarchitectures depending on the device with Cortex-A725 and Cortex-A520.
- Immortalis-G925, which has gains in GPU performance and efficiency, including 37% more performance for graphics applications and 34% over AI and machine learning networks.
- System interconnect and system memory management units (SMMUs) that optimize the compute path to memory and other parts of the system on a chip.
- A set of optimized layouts for CPUs and GPUs.
- The Kleidi libraries.
Geraint North, Arm's vice president of developer platforms, said the integrated stack of CSS for Client can increase performance of browsers, applications used widely in the enterprise and video.
Wai Ming Wong, CFO of Lenovo, said he was bullish about Arm's plans for PCs and other edge devices. Speaking on a conference call last week, Wong said:
"We are optimistic about the evolution of Arm. I think we are happy to see there will be a X86 world and Arm world. And definitely, we'll see going forward, which one will have the better performance, but definitely Arm's has the advantages thermal battery life, several advantages. On x86, Intel and AMD are also striking to get more performance with less battery consumption. So I think will be an interesting race among the two."
