April 3rd, AMD officially launched the Ryzen Embedded 8000 series processors, marking the first time in the embedded field to feature NPU units and AIGC functionality.
The Ryzen Embedded 8000 series essentially mirrors the mobile Ryzen 8040 series, retaining the Zen4 CPU architecture, RNDA3 GPU architecture, and XDNA NPU architecture, all built on a 4nm manufacturing process.
The model numbers remain identical, namely 8845HS, 8840U, 8645HS, and 8640U, with the only addition being the prefix "Embedded." Notably, there is no distinction between the 9/7/5 series.
Without diving into the nitty-gritty, the key specs are pretty similar across the board, though there are slight tweaks in frequency for some models - for instance, the 8645HS drops to 5.9GHz, while the 8640U bumps up to 5.0GHz. Plus, there's now support for ECC memory. The Ryzen Embedded 8000 series also packs a punch with up to 39TOPS of compute power, with the NPU (Neural Processing Unit) contributing up to 16TOPS of that.
When it comes to the impact of NPU AI on embedded applications, the possibilities are wide-ranging, covering everything from computational vision and robotics to industrial automation. For example, AI can assist robots in real-time path planning, helping them adapt to dynamically changing environments. In the realm of industrial automation, AI enables smart edge devices to perform complex analyses and make decisions on the fly, without relying on cloud connectivity. This capability allows for real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, and automatic control, significantly boosting operational efficiency and reducing downtime.
