NPU paves the way toward a more intelligent Windows

Inside Copilot+ PCs is a tiny but powerful AI engine, an innovation originally used in smartphones and now applied to Windows PCs: a neural processing unit Microsoft developed with silicon partners for its latest line of personal computers.

These NPU chips speed up AI tasks locally – which means they happen on the device – and can enhance the Copilot+ PC’s digital experiences. What sets Copilot+ PCs apart is the requirement for the NPU to be capable of 40+ Trillion Operations per Second. (TOPS measures trillions of operations a system can perform per second.)

NPUs specialize in processing machine learning and small language models efficiently to power features such as image creation and smart camera effects while drawing less power from other areas of the PC, helping extend battery life when unplugged.

“AI features available on Windows create novel experiences, and we developed the hardware needed to support those experiences,” says Steven Bathiche, a corporate vice president and technical fellow who established the Applied Sciences team that develops much of the AI technology in Windows.

Read the rest of this story over on Microsoft Source.