Qualcomm Promises to Power On-Device AI with Snapdragon 8, Shows Off Sub-Second Stable Diffusion
Generate images from text prompts in under a second or process 30 large language models a second with Qualcomm's latest chips.
Qualcomm wants its Snapdragon chips to be at the heart of the on-device artificial intelligence movement, announcing that its latest-generation mobile platform can generate an image using Stable Diffusion in under a second.
“We are entering the era of AI, and on-device generative AI will play a critical role in delivering powerful, fast, personal, efficient, secure and highly optimized experiences," claims Qualcomm's chief executive officer Cristiano Amon of his company's focus. "Snapdragon is uniquely positioned to help shape and capitalize on the on-device AI opportunity and you will see generative AI going virtually everywhere that Snapdragon goes."
Key to the company's hope of driving a future where large language models (LLMs) and other artificial intelligence systems run on-device without relying on cloud computing is the Snapdragon 8 Gen. 3 platform. Boasting "the most powerful NPU [Neural Processing Unit]" the company has yet released, the mobile-centric chip is claimed to "showcase extreme speeds in generative AI tasks."
Exactly what that means varies depending on workload, naturally, but while Qualcomm hasn't shared raw specifications it does have a few illustrative examples: a Microsoft Windows 11 laptop or tablet based on the Snapdragon 8 Gen. 3 can process 30 large language model (LLM) tokens per second to drive a responsive on-device chat assistant, while a smartphone can generate images from text prompts using Stable Diffusion in under a second.
"Our years of AI development, including the most powerful combination of CPU, NPU, and GPU available in devices, and our support of all leading models running natively, means we can bring the benefits of generative AI to users worldwide and across multiple device categories," claims Amon.
At the same time, Qualcomm is aiming to knock Intel, AMD, and even Apple off the top-performance PC slots with the Snapdragon X Elite, a device family which the company claims "outpaces competing laptop CPUs and sets a new bar in AI performance." On the software front, the company has announced partnerships with Microsoft, Meta, Google, HP, Stability.ai, Baichuan AI, Baidu, and more for Snapdragon-powered on-device AI.
Interested parties can learn more about the company's announcements at Snapdragon Summit 2023.