Tesla Dojo - The D1 Chip

 

Tesla Dojo, What is Tesla Dojo?

Tesla’s Dojo, a processor designed for AI training, is now being mass-produced and will be used soon. It will be the first chip in the world to use TSMC’s System on Wafer (SoW) method.

SoW lets us put many chips on a single 300mm wafer. This includes logic chips, SoIC-compliant packages, HBM, and other chips. This makes it great for high-performance computing and AI uses.

SoW comes from TSMC’s earlier InFO_SoW, which itself came from integrated fan-out technology.

Tesla’s Dojo D1 chip was the first to use InFO_SoW. TSMC says that their 1.6-nanometer process, compared to their N2P process, makes the A16 chip 1.1 times denser, 8-10% faster at the same voltage, and uses 15-20% less power at the same speed.

Tesla Dojo is a supercomputer designed by Tesla for a very specific purpose: to improve its Full Self-Driving (FSD) advanced driver-assistance system. It went into production in July 2023 and its goal is to efficiently process millions of terabytes of video data captured from real-life driving situations from Tesla’s 4+million car              

                    


The Unique Architecture of Tesla Dojo

The architecture of Tesla Dojo is what sets it apart. It’s built around a custom chip called the D1, designed to be highly efficient for machine learning workloads. Each D1 chip has a dedicated CPU, local memory, and communication interface, allowing each chip to operate as a full-fledged computer.

Scalability

Scalability is the defining goal of Dojo. Tesla has de-emphasized several mechanisms that you find in typical CPUs, like coherency, virtual memory, and global lookup directories because these mechanisms do not scale very well. Instead, they have relied on a very fast and very distributed SRAM (static random-access memory) storage throughout the mesh.

High Throughput

At a high level, Dojo is an eight wide core with four way SMT, running at a conservative 2 GHz. It features a CPU-style pipeline, making it more tolerant of different algorithms and branchy code than something like a GPU.

Custom ISA

Dojo’s instruction set supports 64-bit scalar instructions and 64 B SIMD instructions. It includes primitives to deal with transferring data from local memory to remote memories and has support for semaphore and barrier constraints. This is necessary to get memory operations in line with instructions running not just within a D1 core, but across collections of D1 cores.

No Direct System Memory Access & Lack of Virtual Memory Support

Code running on Dojo cannot directly access system memory. Instead, applications are expected to work mainly out of a small pool of local SRAM. This local SRAM is managed by software, and doesn’t work as a cache. If data from main memory is needed, it has to be brought in using DMA operations. Also, Dojo lacks virtual memory support, which makes multitasking very difficult.

This unique architecture allows Tesla to make trade-offs that more general architectures can’t make, optimizing for their specific use case of training machine learning models.


Conclusion

Tesla Dojo is a fascinating piece of technology that showcases how custom hardware can significantly improve machine learning workloads. Its unique architecture is a testament to Tesla’s innovative approach to problem-solving.


Sources: x.com, wikipedia.org, HotChips_tesla_dojo_uarch.pdf

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Xiaomi’s Journey into the Automotive Industry: Challenges and Innovations

Image
Introduction Xiaomi, the renowned Chinese consumer electronics company, has embarked on an exciting journey into the automotive industry. As it forays into electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing, Xiaomi faces both opportunities and challenges. In this article, we’ll explore the intricacies of Xiaomi’s venture, the hurdles it encounters, and the innovative features of its first electric car, the SU7. let's breakdown the complete journey from initial funding and investment followed by factory constructions and some of the key features of CAR and their specs comparison with Tesla. Founding and Initial Investment Background : Xiaomi Automobile Co., Ltd (Xiaomi Auto) was founded in 2021 by Lei Jun, the CEO of the Xiaomi Group. The company’s mission is to establish itself as a significant player in the EV market. Investment : Xiaomi committed an initial investment of 10 billion Chinese Yuan (approximately 1.5 billion US Dollars) for its EV venture. Over the next ...
Read more

India’s Leap into the Future: The Ambitious Semiconductor Plan

Image
India’s Leap into the Future: The Ambitious Semiconductor Plan In the realm of technology and innovation, India is making strides with an ambitious plan to become a global semiconductor powerhouse1. This journey, while challenging, is a testament to India’s commitment to technological advancement and self-reliance. The Semiconductor Landscape Semiconductors, the heart of modern electronics, are a critical component in various sectors such as defence, automobiles, and telecommunications2. However, the manufacturing of these tiny yet powerful chips is a complex and costly process1. Despite these challenges, India is determined to carve out its niche in this sector. India’s Ambitious Plan The Indian government has approved a staggering US$ 10 billion incentive plan to attract semiconductor companies to establish their plants in the country3. This move is part of a larger scheme, the ‘Development of Semiconductors and Display Manufacturing Ecosystem’, which has an allocated budget of up to...
Read more