ALPACA: An Accelerator Chip for Nested Loop Programs

ALPACA is an ASIC implementing an array of 8×8 programmable processing elements for accelerating nested loop programs. Each of them supports 32-bit as well as 8-bit floating point formats. The array is surrounded by 128 memory banks and respective control units to scan loops automatically and perform load/stores without affecting the execution time of the processed loop nest. The chip has been manufactured in 22 nm on a 10 mm
²
die. It achieves a peak performance of 537.6 GFLOPS @ 700 MHz and a peak energy efficiency of 270 GFLOPS/W @ 50 MHz.