NextSilicon has unveiled what it claims is the world’s first Intelligent Compute Accelerator (ICA).

Dubbed the Maverick-2 ICA, the Israeli startup said “the novel and original computing architecture” delivers more than 4x the performance-per-watt of traditional GPUs and 20x that of high-end CPUs, while simultaneously cutting power consumption and related costs in half.

NextSilicon Maverick-2 OAM
NextSilicon Maverick-2 ICA OAM – NextSilicon

Built on TSMC’s 5nm process technology, the Maverick-2 ICA is available in a single-die PCIe format with 96GB of HBM3e memory and a maximum power consumption of 300W. The dual-die Open Accelerator Module (OAM) offering also uses 5nm process technology but contains 192GB of HBM3e and has a max power consumption of 600W.

According to the company, the offering targets high-performance computing artificial intelligence (HPC-AI) and “redefines accelerator architectures, moving beyond the limitations of traditional fixed GPU designs, which are based upon the eight-decade-old Von Neumann architecture.”

Designed to focus on workflows that run in HPC and AI environments, NextSilicon said the Maverick-2 ICA supports popular programming languages and requires no code or software stack changes to deploy.

“Whether it’s the rapid evolution of AI models or more sophisticated scientific simulations, NextSilicon’s intelligent compute accelerator architecture is designed to push the boundaries of what’s possible," the company’s founder and CEO Elad Raz wrote in a blog post. “I am genuinely inspired by the breakthroughs Maverick-2 will help researchers achieve, unlocking discoveries that were once out of reach.”

Earlier this year, Sandia National Laboratories announced it had partnered with NextSilicon and Penguin Solutions to deliver an Advanced Architecture Prototype System as part of the National Nuclear Security Administrations (NNSA) platform strategy. The lab is planning to build a novel architecture for its Spectra supercomputer using Maverick-2 as part of its Vanguard-II program.

Other NextSilicon customers include the US Department of Energy, in addition to academic research institutions and financial services, energy, manufacturing, and life sciences organizations.