zlacker

[return to "AMD funded a drop-in CUDA implementation built on ROCm: It's now open-source"]
1. Keyfra+Yz[view] [source] 2024-02-12 16:45:47
>>mfigui+(OP)
This event of release is however a result of AMD stopped funding it per "After two years of development and some deliberation, AMD decided that there is no business case for running CUDA applications on AMD GPUs. One of the terms of my contract with AMD was that if AMD did not find it fit for further development, I could release it. Which brings us to today." from https://github.com/vosen/ZLUDA?tab=readme-ov-file#faq

so, same mistake intel made before.

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2. tgsovl+VK1[view] [source] 2024-02-12 22:44:21
>>Keyfra+Yz
How is this not priority #1 for them, with NVIDIA stock shooting to the moon because everyone does machine learning using CUDA-centric tools?

If AMD could get 90% of the CUDA ML stuff to seamlessly run on AMD hardware, and could provide hardware at a competitive cost-per-performance (which I assume they probably could since NVIDIA must have an insane profit margin on their GPUs), wouldn't that be the opportunity to eat NVIDIA's lunch?

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3. HarHar+qg2[view] [source] 2024-02-13 02:20:02
>>tgsovl+VK1
IMO the trouble is that CUDA is too low level to allow emulation without a major loss of performance, and even if there was a choice of CUDA-compatible vendors, people are ultimately going to vote with their wallets. It's not enough to be compatible - you need to be compatible while providing the same or better performance (else why not just use NVIDIA).

A better level to target compatibility would be at the framework level such as PyTorch, where the building blocks of neural networks (convolution, multi-head attention, etc, etc) are high level and abstract enough to allow flexibility in mapping them onto AMD hardware without compromising performance.

However, these frameworks are forever changing and playing continual catch-up there still wouldn't be a great place to be, especially without a large staff dedicated to the effort (writing hand-optimized kernels), which AMD don't seem to be able/willing to muster.

So, finally, perhaps the strategically best place for AMD to invest would be in compilers and software tools to allow kernels to be written in a high level language. Becoming a first class Mojo target wouldn't be a bad place to start, assuming they are not already in partnership.

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