Balanced inference efficiency and performance

Getting started

Optimized for the most cost- and power-sensitive designs, Ethos-N57 delivers premium AI experiences in mainstream phones and DTVs. With the highest performance, an open-source software framework and the largest AI ecosystem, the Arm AI platform makes it easy to develop on Arm.

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Key features

Balanced Performance

Delivers up to 2 TOP/s of performance using 1024 8-Bit MACs. 

Optimized Design

Drives up to 225% convolution performance uplift using Winograd on 3x3 kernels, delivering up to 90% MAC utilization.

High Efficiency

Internally distributed SRAM stores data close to the compute elements to save power and reduce DRAM access.

Futureproof

Supports a wide range of existing Machine Learning (ML) operations and future innovations through firmware updates and compiler technology.

Arm Ethos-N Block Diagram

Ethos-N57 mainstream ML inference processor contains eight compute engines

Key benefits

  • Supports a variety of popular neural networks, including CNNs and RNNs, for classification, object detection, image enhancements, speech recognition and natural language understanding
  • Reduces system memory bandwidth by 1.5-3x through clustering sparsity and workload tiling, with lossless compression for weights and activations on select networks
  • Maximizes the number of parameters stored on-chip by storing compressed weights and activations in local SRAM and decompressing them on the fly
  • Leverages sparse power gating techniques to reduce power by up to 50%
  • Improves performance and extends battery life through intelligent data management techniques to minimize memory movement with up to 90% of accesses on chip
  • Supports TrustZone system security to safeguard sensitive data with support for secure and non-secure modes

Specifications

Key features Performance (at 1GHz)
 2 TOP/s
MACs (8x8) 1024
Data types Int-8 and Int-16
Network support CNN and RNN
Efficient convolution Winograd support
Sparsity Yes
Secure mode TEE or SEE
Multicore capability 8 NPUs in a cluster
64 NPUs in a mesh
Memory system Embedded SRAM 512 KB
Bandwidth reduction
 Extended compression technology, layer/operator fusion
Main interface
 1xAXI4 (128-bit), ACE-5 Lite
Development platform Neural frameworks TensorFlow, TensorFlow Lite, Caffe2, PyTorch, MXNet, ONNX
Neural operator API Arm NN, AndroidNN
Software components Arm NN, neural compiler, driver and support library
Debug and profile Layer-by-layer visibility
Evaluation and early prototyping Arm Juno FPGA systems and cycle models

Ethos-N comparison table

    Ethos-N77
 Ethos-N57
 Ethos-N37
Key features Performance (at 1GHz)
4 TOP/s 2 TOP/s 1 TOP/s
MAC/Cycle (8x8) 2048 1024
512
Data types
 Int-8 and Int-16
Network support CNN and RNN
Efficient convolution
 Winograd support
Sparsity Yes
Secure mode
 TEE or SEE
Multicore capability 8 NPUs in a cluster
64 NPUs in a mesh
Memory system Embedded SRAM 1-4 MB 512 KB 512 KB
Bandwidth reduction Extended compression technology, layer/operator fusion, clustering, and workload tilling
Main interface 1xAXI4 (128-bit), ACE-5 Lite
Development platform Neural frameworks TensorFlow, TensorFlow Lite, Caffe2, PyTorch, MXNet, ONNX
  Neural operator API Arm NN, AndroidNN
  Software components Arm NN, neural compiler, driver and support library
  Debug and profile Layer-by-layer visibility
  Evaluation and early prototyping Arm Juno FPGA systems and cycle models

Get support

Arm support

Arm training courses and on-site system-design advisory services enable licensees to efficiently integrate the Ethos-N57 processor into their design to realize maximum system performance with lowest risk and fastest time-to-market.

Arm training courses   Arm Design Reviews   Open a support case

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