Intel Pohoiki Springs – a neuromorphic system with 100 million neurons comparable to the brain of a small mammal

Remember the neuromorphic Intel Loihi processor? The company introduced it back in the fall of 2017. It stands out for its architecture, reminiscent of the structure of the animal’s brain. One processor contains 130,000 neurons and 130 million synapses.

This allowed Intel to say that Loihi training is 1 million times faster than other neural networks, if we compare the total number of operations needed to achieve a given accuracy in solving MNIST recognition problems.

Last summer, Intel showed Pohoiki Beach – a system of 64 Loihi processors, with a total of 8.32 million neurons and 8.32 billion synapses. And then we were promised in the future to release Pohoiki Springs – an even more complex system on the same neuromorphic processors.

And this system was introduced yesterday. Pohoiki Springs is Intel’s most powerful neuromorphic training system. If the previous system included 64 Loihi processors, then Pohoiki Springs consists of 768 such processors! And this means that the system contains almost 100 million neurons and almost 100 billion synapses! Intel says Pohoiki Springs can be compared to the brains of a small mammal.

As before, the system will be available to members of the Intel Neuromorphic Research Community. Despite the fact that the Pohoiki Springs system is designed for rack mounting, while Intel does not say anything about the commercial future of this solution – it was the same with Pohoiki Beach. At the moment, these Intel designs are aimed at developing such technologies and unlocking their potential.