Powering the Future of On-Device AI with FPGAs

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The emergence of on-device AI marks a revolutionary shift, bringing intelligence directly to the point of interaction. This advancement enables more efficient, private, and secure AI-driven experiences. From smartphones with AI-powered cameras to smart home devices with voice recognition, on-device AI is becoming increasingly ubiquitous in consumer applications.

embedded.com, Mar. 11, 2025 – 

Gartner analysts predicted that 240 million generative AI smartphones and 54.5 million AI PCs would be shipped by the end of 2024. In addition, on-device AI is amplifying various industries, such as communications, industrial manufacturing, and automotive. For example, in a 2024 Global Machinery and Equipment report from Bain & Company, 75% of executives from the broader advanced manufacturing industry noted that adopting emerging technologies such as AI is their top priority in engineering and R&D.

The movement to implement AI locally on more devices, versus leveraging larger, cloud-based services such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, continues to gain steam. It is being driven by desired outcomes such as real-time processing, improved functionality, reduced network strain, enhanced privacy, and more. But as with any technological advancement, there are corresponding challenges to on-device AI, such as optimizing computing power amid limited bandwidth and ensuring security across an expanding landscape of intelligent edge devices.

In response, developers are increasingly leveraging field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) to meet evolving demands and accelerate innovation while also addressing some of the key challenges presented by on-device AI. FPGAs are reconfigurable semiconductors, consisting of an array of reprogrammable logic blocks and interconnects, that can perform a wide range of digital functions. In contrast to fixed-function solutions such as ASICs, FPGAs can be adapted to implement virtually any digital circuit, even post-manufacturing—for example, to fix programming issues, meet evolving hardware needs, or comply with new industry regulations.

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