1/100th the cost: CPU startup Tachyum claims one of its processing units can rival dozens of Nvidia H200 GPUs – with a 99% savings that could shake up the AI market if true
Tachyum has confirmed that it will begin mass production of it Prodigy universal processor later this year – the product that combines the functionality of a CPU, GPU and TPU in one device, and threatens to turn the AI market upside down.
The 192-core 5nm processor delivers 4.5 times the performance of the best processors for cloud workloads, can be up to three times better than GPUs for high-performance computing (HPC), and can be six times more effective than GPUs for AI applications.
Company teased first its universal processing component by 2022, promising to transform hyperscale data centers into universal computing centers that can pave the way for the necessary computing power and efficiency to handle AI workloads. It then released a video in December 2023 showing that it could emulate x86 applications – despite no hardware being included in the architecture.
Can the all-in-one processor take over Nvidia?
“The successes we’ve been able to achieve by adapting our product roadmap have brought us to a 2024 full of anticipation as we move towards volume production of Prodigy and the realization of a billion-dollar sales pipeline,” said Tachyum CEO and Founder Dr. Radoslav Danilak. .
“We look forward to delivering on our promise to transform regular data centers into Universal Computing Centers in the near future.”
Because the component includes functionality for different types of workloads, it can dynamically switch between computing domains – while also apparently eliminating the need for expensive hardware for AI workloads.
This is all in the company’s press release, which summarizes the company’s 2023 performance and outlines the company’s strategy for the coming years.
Among the bizarre claims, the company claimed that just one of its $23,000 processors could match the AI training performance of a highly advanced array of 52 Nvidia H200 GPUs – currently one of the best GPUs available. The company claimed that that many GPUs alongside seven Supermicro GPU servers would cost $2,349,028, compared to a single Prodigy pocket system with 2TB DDR5 DRAM.
But that’s just the beginning, with Tachyum featuring Prodigy 2, a 3nm processor using PCIe 6.0 and CXL, in addition to either high-bandwidth memory (HBM) 3 RAM – set for release in 2026, according to Tom’s hardware.
Whether the final product lives up to the company’s expectations remains to be seen, but Tachyum has received a large purchase order to build a large-scale system. The company has also released a series of whitepapers so developers know what to expect when the processor becomes available.