Processing element and neural processing device including same

A neural processing device comprising:

• at least one neural core,
• wherein the at least one neural core includes a processing unit configured to perform calculation, and a L0 memory configured to store input/output data of the processing unit,
• the processing unit includes a processing element (PE) array including at least one processing element, and
• the PE array includes a flexible multiplier, including a first multiplier and a second multiplier, configured to receive a weight and an input activation, provide one of the first multiplier of a first precision and the second multiplier of a second precision different from the first precision, separate from the first multiplier with the weight and the input activation based on sizes of the weight and the input activation and perform multiplication calculation of the weight and the input activation, and a saturating adder configured to receive a result data for at least a part of the multiplication calculation of the weight and the input activation and generate a partial sum.

A processing element comprising:

• a weight register configured to store a weight;
• an input activation register configured to store an input activation;
• a flexible multiplier, including a first multiplier with a first precision and a second multiplier with a second precision, separated from the first multiplier, configured to receive a first sub-weight of a first precision included in the weight, receive a first sub-input activation of the first precision included in the input activation, provide the first sub-weight and the first sub-input activation to one of the first multiplier and the second multiplier, and generate result data of the first precision by performing multiplication calculation of the first sub-weight and the first sub-input activation using one of the first multiplier and the second multiplier;
• and
• a saturating adder configured to generate a partial sum by using the result data.

A processing element comprising:

• a weight register configured to store a weight;
• an input activation register configured to store an input activation;
• a flexible multiplier, including a first multiplier with a first precision and a second multiplier with a second precision smaller than the first precision, configured to generate result data by performing multiplication calculation of the weight and the input activation as the first precision or the second precision based on a calculation mode signal;
• and
• a saturating adder configured to generate a partial sum by using the result data,
• wherein the flexible multiplier performs the multiplication calculation of the weight and the input activation using the second multiplier if the calculation mode signal is a first mode signal for calculation with the second precision, and
• wherein the flexible multiplier performs the multiplication calculation of the weight and the input activation using one of the first multiplier and the second multiplier if the calculation mode signal is a second mode signal for calculation with the first precision based on sizes of the weight and the input activation.