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> FPGAs are not going to beat GPUs anytime soon due to the software ecosystem Completely true as long as the chip companies stonewall open-source toolchains.
by crotchfire 3y ago
> FPGAs are not going to beat GPUs anytime soon due to the software ecosystem
Completely true as long as the chip companies stonewall open-source toolchains.
If Xilinx or Altera published the bitstream format for their highest-volume high-end chip (i.e. one or two generations back from the bleeding edge) you'd see the effect on the entire AI space within twelve months. I'm not kidding.
The interest in this kind of access from developers is enormous, and the problems in this space are extremely regular. There are massive opportunities for FPGAs to avoid spilling to DRAM or even to SRAM -- you have an ocean of tiny register-speed memories in LUTRAM mode.
But it will never happen. And so FPGAs will continue to be trinkets for weapons manufacturers and not much else.
- someguydave 3y agoIf they adopt open-source tool chains Xilinx & Altera would be signing their own death-warrants. The hardware would be reproduced by third parties (the open source code would contain all you need to know to produce the chips) and it would become a commodity like DRAM. Profit margins for the incumbent companies would go to zero and the users would profit immensely. Instead, FPGAs are sold to big entities like governments and big corps who can throw bodies at the crappy toolchains until they produce what they want.