Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (ML and AI) Acceleration Specialist Axelera AI has announced an upgraded take on the Metis M.2 module. Provides twice the memory bandwidth to increase performance for workloads like on-device large-scale language models (LLMS): Metis M.2 Max.
“We continue to set price performance ratio benchmarks for the AI accelerator market,” argues Aixlera AI CEO Fabrizio del Maffeo, but it must be pointed out that the company has not yet announced pricing for new hardware. “Our goal is to enable our customers to deploy transformed edge AI applications at scale. MetisM.2Max and the original Metis M.2 card allow customers to choose the best solution for their requirements, from computer vision to large-scale language models to modern transformers models.
Metis M.2 Max promises more memory bandwidth to up to double the performance of LLM and VLM workloads. (📷: axelera ai)
Metis M.2 Max, as the name suggests, is an upgraded version The company's previous Metis M.2 – Compact accelerator board for small form factor systems and single board computers. It offers 214 terra operations with minimal minimum speed calculations for machine learning, computer vision, and artificial intelligence workloads. While the same type of Metis “Artificial Intelligence Processing Unit” (AIPU) is mainly installed, the new model will have an increased memory bandwidth. This results in a 33% increase in performance for convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and double the token throughput for large-scale language and vision language models (LLM and VLMS).
Other improvements to the new accelerator include low profile but still optional heatsinks, onboard power probes for automatic performance and power draw tuning, and integration of the root of a trusted system designed to ensure firmware integrity.
For more information about Metis M.2 Max Accelerator, please visit the Axelera AI website. The device is expected to begin shipping in the fourth quarter of 2025 with 1GB, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB variants without industrial grade temperature ratings, but it has not yet been confirmed at the time of writing. The standard Metis M.2 accelerator was released for $149.
