In-memory computing to break the memory wall*

Abstract

Facing the computing demands of Internet of things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI), the cost induced by moving the data between the central processing unit (CPU) and memory is the key problem and a chip featured with flexible structural unit, ultra-low power consumption, and huge parallelism will be needed. In-memory computing, a non-von Neumann architecture fusing memory units and computing units, can eliminate the data transfer time and energy consumption while performing massive parallel computations. Prototype in-memory computing schemes modified from different memory technologies have shown orders of magnitude improvement in computing efficiency, making it be regarded as the ultimate computing paradigm. Here we review the state-of-the-art memory device technologies potential for in-memory computing, summarize their versatile applications in neural network, stochastic generation, and hybrid precision digital computing, with promising solutions for unprecedented computing tasks, and also discuss the challenges of stability and integration for general in-memory computing.