Thread

1. amelius · 1789774081 · focus · HN ↗

   At some point people will use an LLM to design an Apple M series competitor.

   1. Lramseyer · 1789776657 · focus · HN ↗

      Production grade CPU design is more than just the RTL (the source code.) To achieve the performance numbers that these companies get, you have to do a ton of optimization in your physical design to achieve the power/performance/area (PPA) metrics that make these products competitive. LLMs are not suitable for that kind of work.

      There are people working on PPA optimization and trying to shake up how things are done, just not with LLMs.

      1. amelius · 1789811487 · focus · HN ↗

         That's exactly where LLMs can shine, because design space exploration requires tedious work and endless simulations.

         1. Lramseyer · 1790012131 · focus · HN ↗

            Yes, but that's only the first part of it. The LLM can create 100 good, working, and verified designs. You still need to lay them out and optimize the physical designs. That kind of optimization is not something language models are good at. You need something fundamentally different.

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.