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# Neural processing unit

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Neural processing units (NPU) are specialized processors designed to accelerate machine learning and AI-related tasks. They are commonly integrated into modern SoCs (System-on-Chip), including those found in mobile devices, single-board computers, and some newer laptops and desktops. NPUs help offload computation from the CPU and GPU, improving performance and reducing power consumption for AI workloads.

## Installation

### AMD XDNA

The AMD XDNA-based NPU is supported via the `amdxdna` kernel driver, which is included in recent versions of the Linux kernel and enabled automatically.

To verify if the NPU has been detected and initialized:

    $ journalctl -kg xdna

You can also check with rocminfo:

    $ /opt/rocm/bin/rocminfo

Look for agents indicating XDNA or NPU support in the output. If properly working, an agent should list ISAs under the `ISA Info` entry.

### Intel NPU

The Intel NPU driver is included in the latest version of the linux package.

To verify whether the system detects the NPU:

    $ journalctl -kg intel_vpu

or

    $ lspci -knnd ::1200

## List of NPU-accelerated software

- tensorflow Library for computation using data flow graphs for scalable machine learning
- fastflowlm FastFlowLM (FLM) delivers an Ollama-style developer experience optimized for tile-structured NPU accelerators.

This article or section needs expansion.

Reason: More applications may support NPUs; contributions welcome. (Discuss in Talk:Neural processing unit)

## See also

- AMD XDNA homepage
- Linux kernel documentation: AMD XDNA

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