AMD Sends Out Linux Patches For Their Next-Gen AIE4 NPU
Hitting the mailing list today are patches providing initial support for AMD's next-gen NPU "AIE4" platform, complete with SR-IOV support.
AMD is working on bringing up their next-gen NPU IP under Linux. The patches provide initial support for the AMD NPU AIE4 platform atop the AMDXDNA accelerator driver in the Linux kernel. AMD's Ryzen AI NPU leverages the AI Engine "AIE" processors that originally was based on work by Xilinx. Each AI Engine consists of a vector processor, scalar processor, and on-chip memory.
The AMD AIE4 NPU enablement patches for the AMDXDNA driver can be found on the dri-devel list.
Great seeing AMD as usual getting out their Linux support brought-up early so that it will hopefully all be part of the mainline Linux kernel even before the hardware ships to customers. Especially now that the AMD Ryzen AI NPU IP is becoming useful under Linux in running LLMs with open-source software and just days ago AMD introducing a privacy-first web app for local AI agents that works on both Windows and Linux.
AMD is working on bringing up their next-gen NPU IP under Linux. The patches provide initial support for the AMD NPU AIE4 platform atop the AMDXDNA accelerator driver in the Linux kernel. AMD's Ryzen AI NPU leverages the AI Engine "AIE" processors that originally was based on work by Xilinx. Each AI Engine consists of a vector processor, scalar processor, and on-chip memory.
👁 AMD AIE4 enablement begins
The patches don't reveal too much about the new AIE4 IP but from the driver perspective is largely similar to current AMD AIE2 IP except for new additions around SR-IOV support.
"This series adds initial support for AMD NPU (AIE4) platforms, including the Physical Function with SR-IOV support on PCI device IDs 0x17F2 and 0x1B0B (NPU3).
...
Add initial support for AIE4 devices (PCI device IDs 0x17F2 and 0x1B0B), including:
Device initialization
Basic mailbox communication
SR-IOV enablement
This lays the groundwork for full AIE4 support."
The AMD AIE4 NPU enablement patches for the AMDXDNA driver can be found on the dri-devel list.
Great seeing AMD as usual getting out their Linux support brought-up early so that it will hopefully all be part of the mainline Linux kernel even before the hardware ships to customers. Especially now that the AMD Ryzen AI NPU IP is becoming useful under Linux in running LLMs with open-source software and just days ago AMD introducing a privacy-first web app for local AI agents that works on both Windows and Linux.