Will computing in memory become a new dawn of associative processors?

Abstract

Computer architecture faces an enormous challenge in recent years: while the demand for performance is constantly growing, the performance improvement of general-purpose CPU has almost stalled. Among the reasons are memory and power walls, due to which data transfer increasingly dominates computing. By significantly reducing data transfer, data-centric (or in-memory) computing promises to alleviate the memory and power walls. Associative processor is a non von Neumann computer invented in the 1960s but effectively cast aside until recently. It computes using associative memory in a perfect induction like fashion, using associative memory cells for both data storage and processing. Associative processor can be implemented using conventional CMOS as well as emerging memories. We show that associative processor can outperform state-of-the-art computing platforms by up to almost two orders of magnitude in a variety of data-intensive workloads.