Kinara

Kinara, formerly known as Deep Vision, develops specialized deep learning processors for edge AI applications. The company's flagship product is the Ara family of Edge AI processors, designed to provide high-performance inference capabilities for various applications including smart retail, smart cities, industrial automation, and automotive. Kinara's processors are based on a patented Polymorphic Dataflow Architecture that optimizes data movement and compute efficiency.

The latest addition to Kinara's product line is the Ara-2 processor, launched in December 2023. The Ara-2 is designed to tackle the computational demands of generative AI and transformer-based models at the edge. It offers 5-8 times the performance of its predecessor, the Ara-1, and can handle 16-32+ video streams for edge servers, laptops, and high-end cameras. The Ara-2 can process Stable Diffusion images in about 10 seconds and generate tens of tokens per second for LLaMA-7 billion models.

Kinara's processors aim to provide a more cost-effective and power-efficient alternative to conventional GPU solutions for edge AI. The company claims to lead the industry in total cost of ownership and computational efficiency in terms of performance per dollar. This efficiency is achieved through dedicated dataflow engines and a unique AI compiler that optimizes the execution of AI models on Kinara's hardware.

To support its hardware, Kinara offers a comprehensive software development kit (SDK) that simplifies the workflow of migrating models from training to production. The SDK includes a model compiler, flexible quantization options, and a dynamically moderated host runtime.