Chips Part 7: what is an NPU? The AI part of your phone chip
An NPU is a block of the chip built only for the multiply-and-add maths of AI, so photo and voice features run fast on very little power.
How does your phone find faces in a photo in a blink? 📸🧠
🔢 AI is mostly ONE tiny sum: multiply, then add.
🤯 Even one photo needs about a BILLION of them.
🐢 A CPU does only a few at a time — slow, and it gets hot.
⚡ The NPU (neural processing unit) is a part of your phone chip made of a big grid of tiny multiply-adders, all working at once.
🔋 Same AI job, many times less power — face unlock, photo effects, voice and live translation right on your phone.
Read the voiceover (transcript)
- Phones spot faces in a blink. How? The NPU!
- AI is one tiny sum: multiply, then add.
- Billions of times, for just one photo!
- A CPU does a few at a time. Slow and hot!
- The NPU: a grid of multiply-adders!
- Guess: how much power?
- Many times less! Happy battery.
- Next: RAM, your phone's short-term memory. Follow for Part 8!
Related lessons
Get new lessons + early access to the full course
One email when new lessons drop. No spam, unsubscribe any time.
✓ You're on the list! We'll email you when new lessons drop.
By joining you agree to the privacy policy.