Weekly Tech Recap - № 325 - A supercomputer for AI, ARM+Nvidia, Boston Dynamics+DHL, Windows 11 update and Apple Q1 results

Meta’s AI supercomputer

AI Research SuperCluster. © Meta.

Meta (formerly known as Facebook) says it has built an “AI supercomputer” exclusively for machine learning systems. By mid-year, when a system expansion is complete, it will be the fastest of its kind in the world, according to engineers at Meta. The RSC (AI Research SuperCluster) will eventually be able to work with neural networks comprising trillions of parameters, whose numbers are constantly growing. The GPT-3 natural language processor, for example, has 175 billion parameters.

Currently, the system is made up of an impressive cluster of 760 Nvidia DGX A100 computers, with a total of 6,080 GPUs. The computer cluster is linked by an Nvidia 200 gigabit-per-second Infiniband network. Storage includes 46 petabytes (46 million billion bytes) of cache memory and 175 petabytes of flash memory. When the system is complete in mid-2022, it will feature 16,000 GPUs. “RSC will help Meta’s AI researchers build new and better AI models that can learn from trillions of examples; work across hundreds of different languages; seamlessly analyze text, images, and video together; develop new augmented reality tools; and much more,” write researchers Kevin Lee and Shubho Sengupta in a Meta AI blog post announcing the news.

⇨ YouTube, “Introducing the AI Research SuperCluster — Meta’s cutting-edge supercomputer for AI research”

⇨ The Verge, James Vincent, “Meta has built an AI supercomputer it says will be world’s fastest by end of 2022.”

⇨ IEEE Spectrum, Samuel K. Moore, “Meta aims to build the world’s fastest AI supercomputer.”

2022-01-24

Nvidia’s ARM purchase won’t fly

© Nvidia.

According to Bloomberg, Nvidia might ground its acquisition of British chip designer ARM Holdings. This transaction has been the subject of intense global scrutiny. Nvidia apparently believes it has not sufficiently convinced regulators that the acquisition will not harm competition or jeopardize national security. “Nvidia has told partners that it doesn’t expect the transaction to close, according to one person who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private,” Bloomberg reports. As a further sign that the operation is likely to stay grounded, SoftBank, ARM’s current owner, is reportedly working to take ARM public.

Though the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, expressed concerns last October, the US Federal Trade Commission’s very strong stance, at the beginning of December, doubtlessly clipped the wings of what could have been the biggest semiconductor and chip merger in history.

SoftBank announced in September 2020 that it was selling ARM Holdings to Nvidia for $40 billion in cash and stock. The ARM architecture, sold under license, is core to the functioning of most current phone processors and many computers, game consoles and graphics cards. SoftBank netted ARM in 2016 for $32 billion.

⇨ The Verge, Tim De Chant, “Nvidia ready to abandon Arm acquisition, report says.”

2022-01-25

Boston Dynamics stretches out at DHL

Stretch. © Boston Dynamics.

All critics agree that Stretch, Boston Dynamics’s first commercial robot launched last year, is far less fetching and fun than Spot the canine quadruped or Atlas the anthropomorphic biped. However, the recent purchase of Stretch robots by DHL, the delivery company, shows that they are attracting genuine business interest. Designed to transport and handle boxes in warehouses and distribution centers, Stretch can, for example, unload a truck, depalletize a delivery, move boxes, and assemble orders. The robot weighs 1,200 kg and consists of a wheeled base carrying a robust robotic arm with 7 degrees of freedom, capable of lifting a maximum load of 23 kg (50 pounds). The “perception mast”, a side-mounted pylon, supports the essential sensors.

The contract, worth US $15 million, provides for the delivery of a fleet of robots (exact number unknown) “to multiple DHL warehouses throughout North America over the next three years” where they will begin unloading trucks, according to a company statement. In response to concerns that jobs are evaporating due to robotization, logistics companies point out that they are facing a massive labor shortage. These jobs, which are often poorly paid and physically demanding, can’t seem to attract applicants. The US transportation and logistics industry saw a record 490,000 unfilled positions last year.

⇨ The Verge, James Vincent, “Boston Dynamics’ most boring robot is getting a sensible job unloading trucks.”

2022-01-26

Major Windows 11 update on the way!

Amazon App Store on Windows 11. © Microsoft.

A big Windows 11 update is coming in February. It will include support for Android applications, announced for June 2021 then delayed. Microsoft also mentions the redesign of the Notepad and Media Player apps, taskbar improvements, a universal call mute and unmute button, “easier window sharing” and the weather directly on the taskbar instead of in a widget. (I know some of you are thinking, “OMG, they’ve updated Notepad! Time to upgrade to Windows 11!” 😜) Of course, none of this is news if you joined the Windows Insider Program, but for the rest of us, this will be very welcome news. Remember that Android application support is limited to those apps available on the Amazon Appstore, per an agreement between Amazon and Microsoft. However, we are eagerly awaiting the upcoming Google Play Games (for Android games) developed without Microsoft’s involvement.

Microsoft hasn’t revealed specific Windows 11 adoption numbers to date, but Panos Panay, Microsoft’s Chief Product Officer, writes in a blog post that “Since the launch of Windows 11 in October, we have seen strong demand and preference for Windows 11 with people accepting the upgrade offer to Windows 11 at twice the rate we saw for Windows 10. Windows 11 also has the highest quality scores and product satisfaction of any version of Windows we’ve ever shipped.” Microsoft began the Windows 10 to Windows 11 upgrade process on the newest systems first, giving the company a chance to fix early problems — and there were quite a few — before rolling out the operating system to a wider range of PCs.

⇨ The Verge, Andrew Cunningham, “Major Windows 11 update, with taskbar tweaks and Android apps, coming in February.”

2022-01-26

Apple says, “What disruption?”

© iStock.

Global component shortages and disrupted supply chains are affecting the income of all major technology companies, except… Apple! The company has grown accustomed to reporting record quarterly earnings, especially in the company’s first fiscal quarter (October-December). This Q1 2022, which includes the holiday shopping season, is no exception. In fact, Apple just reported the largest quarterly gains in its history. Driven by sales of the iPhone 13 lineup and continued growth in its services business, Apple posted income of US $123.9 billion and earnings-per-share of $2.10, easily beating Wall Street’s expectations, which forecast $118.66 billion and $1.89, respectively. Apple posted a profit of $34.6 billion, which is also a record.

Tim Cook told CNBC that the company’s supply issues are improving. He added that while the December quarter was worse than the September quarter (which is not reflected in the results), he still expected supply to improve for the quarter ending in March.

⇨ The Verge, Chris Welch, “Apple made more money than ever, even with the supply chain crunch.”

2022-01-27