Qualcomm has opened Snapdragon Summit 2024 with the promise of delivering a brand new technology of synthetic intelligence (AI)-first experiences throughout a wide range of platforms, together with cellular, PC and augmented actuality/prolonged actuality machines.
As he opened his deal with on the ninth annual get collectively of the Snapdragon system-on-chip semiconductor ecosystem, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon mentioned that in unleashing tomorrow’s next-generation intelligence, customers not wanted to adapt to expertise; it tailored to them, with next-generation AI specifically revolving across the consumer and their platform.
“It’s awe inspiring,” he mentioned. “In seconds [you can] prolong your actuality, rework your experiences, and slip into one thing extra comfy, extra personalised and extra highly effective. That is the longer term and the precise time.”
Amon emphasised the pace of growth of the corporate’s merchandise over the previous 12 months, particularly the Oryon CPU – now getting into its second technology, and claimed to set a brand new customary of efficiency and energy utilization – and the industries through which the Snapdragon product set was seeing elevated uptake.
“It’s a few 12 months in the past that we confirmed a big language mannequin, a big visualisation mannequin and a multi-modal mannequin, operating on the cellphone,” he mentioned. “We began speaking about generative AI [GenAI] on gadgets earlier than it was standard. So, the pace of innovation is basically unbelievable, and I believe we’ve simply began. Qualcomm is altering. Qualcomm is within the technique of transformation. Qualcomm has all the time been the corporate that’s been defining the evolution of the wi-fi business, however we mentioned we’re altering Qualcomm right into a related computing firm for the age of recent AI processing. And I believe Snapdragon is evolving with us.
“And what’s thrilling about that is making an attempt to check the tempo of innovation – not solely in cellular, but additionally in each different business,” mentioned Amon. “Snapdragon began after we wanted to create a platform for innovation at cellular, however then we determined to enter automotive.
“We didn’t construct an answer that each different firm was doing in automotive,” he continued. “We constructed one thing new in a brief time period; Snapdragon Digital Chassis turned the main platform redefining efficiency within the automotive business. Then we determined to enter PCs and launched Snapdragon X Elite. And what occurred? Snapdragon will develop into the main platform of PC, and that’s the story of Snapdragon, and that’s our mission. [In] each new business that we’re going to enter … we’re going to set the tempo of innovation in that business.”
Cycle of innovation
Pushed by the improvements occurring in AI, thought to be one of many greatest disruptors in computing, the corporate, mentioned Amon, wished to introduce the idea of computing areas the place GenAI is altering the computing expertise of what occurs on the edge, and the way that may create a disruption within the cycle of innovation – what he mentioned would create a brand new technology of AI-first experiences.
“We’re about to see the subsequent massive change,” he mentioned. “It’s unbelievable what you see with [Gen AI] fashions, however there’s one other factor past having well-trained fashions. Computer systems now can perceive the language of people. Computer systems can now talk like people talk. And what that does, it modifications how we take into consideration the expertise that you’ve on computer systems … basically, how we take into consideration functions and consumer expertise is about to vary in a giant manner with GenAI, and that’s one of many key focus [areas] of Snapdragon now and into the longer term.
“So, we’ve got this assemble that we’re now very used to, which is an app-centred expertise. [Now] every software and use case has the potential to be modified, and the way we take into consideration AI … the machines can perceive human language. That’s going to be utterly redefined, and we’re going to see new experiences. It’s so clear to us how cellular goes to vary. Expertise goes to vary, and we’re simply going to see a revolution enabled by AI for experiences.”
Placing this revolution into the context of the gadgets that shall be geared up with the brand new Snapdragon merchandise, Alex Katouzian, group basic supervisor of cellular, compute and XR (MCX), careworn that individuals stay in a multi-device world and that it was a plain proven fact that quickly folks’s gadgets will achieve new ranges of understanding. Furthermore, he mentioned the PC business had reached a tipping level.
“The human-to-machine interface is altering, and turning into extra intuitive and interactive,” he mentioned. “You should have interactions which might be extra seamless, personalised and extra useful than ever earlier than. All cellular attributes that customers worth – excessive efficiency, multi-day battery life on gadget AI, nice multimedia, skinny kind issue – are all crucial for the brand new AI, PC period.”
Cellular platform
The bedrock for this new period, mentioned Katouzian, was the Snapdragon 8 Elite cellular platform, which Qualcomm mentioned affords the world’s quickest cellular CPU and is the “probably the most highly effective and world’s quickest” cellular system-on-a-chip ever.
The platform sees the introduction of applied sciences such because the second-generation custom-built Oryon CPU, Adreno GPU and enhanced Hexagon NPU, all of which, mentioned Qualcomm, ship “game-changing” efficiency enhancements. These embrace personalised, multi-modal on-device generative AI, enabling the understanding of speech, context and pictures to boost use instances equivalent to enterprise productiveness.
The cornerstone for making this revolution occur, Amon famous, would be the partnerships that Qualcomm has already created with the IT business’s leaders, equivalent to Microsoft, Meta and OpenAI. In a video message to the occasion, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella insisted that there was “no query” that the business has entered a brand new age of computing, and AI on the edge was turning into much more necessary.
“Up till now, scaling legal guidelines have helped us construct and serve highly effective language fashions within the cloud, however at this time, we’re going past the cloud to the sting, eradicating basic constraints of energy and area, lowering latency, and all the time guaranteeing privateness and safety,” he mentioned.
“It will require collaboration and innovation from cloud to the sting to ship these breakthrough options and enhance folks’s productiveness and creativity, and that’s why our long-standing partnership with Qualcomm is so necessary. Collectively, Microsoft and Qualcomm are engaged on software program, {hardware} instruments to ship CoPilot experiences that empower shoppers and enterprises on each gadget on this new period.”
Simply as Katouzian predicted that the expertise now existed to drive an inflection level for the PC market, Amon noticed {that a} comparable prospect was due in spatial computing, bringing AI first experiences throughout all computing areas. In these, the CEO pointed to the present partnership with Meta to develop what he mentioned can be the truth behind the subsequent computing platform, understanding the ability of blended actuality (MR) and Meta actuality.
“We began early with Meta, and we’ve got executed unbelievable work along with the Meta Quest merchandise, and I believe it’s simply getting began,” he mentioned. “That is one other nice partnership. It’s one that isn’t solely based mostly on what we’ve got been doing in spatial computing, but additionally the potential of an AI-first expertise, particularly with Llama, and the nice work that Meta is doing throughout their apps.”
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg added: “Collectively, we’re pushing the boundaries of what’s potential with AI blended actuality and wearables. On the AI entrance, we introduced our cutting-edge mannequin of Llama 3.2 to gadgets that include Snapdragon platforms. That features our multi-modal 11 billion-parameter mannequin together with smaller 1 billion-/3 billion-parameter fashions which might be optimised to run on gadget. With the ability to run Llama on gadget is a big alternative for the cellular business. We will transfer extra processing to the sting for AI experiences which might be richer and extra responsive throughout modalities with added privateness advantages. And this AI work provides to a long-standing partnership within the blended actuality area that dates all the way in which again to Oculus Go.
“We’ve since teamed up on customised blended actuality chipsets – powered by Snapdragon XR platforms and expertise – to energy our quest merchandise, together with the brand new Meta Quest 3s that we simply launched,” he mentioned. “And we’re persevering with to accomplice on integrations throughout our wearable merchandise, together with our Ray-Ban Meta-AI sensible glasses. This partnership is unlocking highly effective, immersive experiences which might be going to form the way forward for human connection.”
Amon mentioned it was straightforward to see the thrill in how AI goes to basically change every little thing, and that the business was simply originally of a giant revolution. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman advised the convention that because the firm launched its ChatGPT product two years in the past, the world had modified in some “outstanding” methods as every week, 250 million folks used the corporate’s flagship product.
“We’re engaged on making fashions far more succesful,” he mentioned. “[People will] be capable to perceive textual content and pictures and sounds throughout a number of languages, a number of modalities, collectively in actual time. Our newest system, OpenAI o1, can now spend extra time considering earlier than it responds, so it might motive via complicated duties and resolve, in some instances, very onerous issues. That is only a step in direction of constructing really clever assistants which might be extra pure serving to navigate the world.”
“On-device AI can implement privateness ensures, and improve immediacy and reliability in AI experiences,” mentioned Altman. “We’re simply originally of what AI can do as we preserve pushing the bounds; I’m actually enthusiastic about how cloud and on-device AI are going to come back collectively and unlock new potentialities. That is going to place extra highly effective intelligence and instruments in additional folks’s arms, and finally it’ll make companies extra productive, assist resolve issues quicker and unlock new methods to be inventive.”
The tangible fruits of the work executed by Qualcomm may very well be seen with the attendance on the Snapdragon summit of three of the most important Asian gadget producers, specifically T M Roh, president cellular eXperience enterprise at Samsung Electronics; Adan Zeng, SVO and president of worldwide enterprise division at Xiaomi; and Ray Guo, chief advertising and marketing officer at Honor Machine. While the Korean large didn’t have any particular merchandise to point out, the latter two Chinese language corporations revealed that they’d be bringing out by the top of October cellular gadgets based mostly on Snapdragon 8 Elite, specifically the Xiaomi 15 Sequence and Honor Magic 7 respectively.
Concluding, Amon mentioned he had conviction about this future, not solely in what Qualcomm mentioned and never solely about what Snapdragon goes to allow, however by way of the key AI corporations on the planet who have been with Qualcomm enthusiastic about this future.
Doubtlessly key for companies was that the advances change the position of computing. Companies will be capable to select their favorite agent, skilled within the language they need, one that’s extra appropriate to the corporate by way of productiveness. “It’s an unbelievable future we’ve got forward of us,” mentioned Amon. “The very best of expertise remains to be forward. And Snapdragon goes to be entrance and centre and making {that a} actuality; it’s about delivering tomorrow’s experiences at this time. It’s about making the inconceivable inevitable.”
