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arXiv · 2503.11698

A Comparison of the Cerebras Wafer-Scale Integration Technology with Nvidia GPU-based Systems for Artificial Intelligence

Yudhishthira Kundu·Manroop Kaur·Tripty Wig·Kriti Kumar·Pushpanjali Kumari·Vivek Puri·Manish Arora
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Abstract

Cerebras' wafer-scale engine (WSE) technology merges multiple dies on a single wafer. It addresses the challenges of memory bandwidth, latency, and scalability, making it suitable for artificial intelligence. This work evaluates the WSE-3 architecture and compares it with leading GPU-based AI accelerators, notably Nvidia's H100 and B200. The work highlights the advantages of WSE-3 in performance per watt and memory scalability and provides insights into the challenges in manufacturing, thermal management, and reliability. The results suggest that wafer-scale integration can surpass conventional architectures in several metrics, though work is required to address cost-effectiveness and long-term viability.

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Yudhishthira Kundu, Manroop Kaur, Tripty Wig, Kriti Kumar, Pushpanjali Kumari, Vivek Puri, Manish Arora. 2025-03-11. A Comparison of the Cerebras Wafer-Scale Integration Technology with Nvidia GPU-based Systems for Artificial Intelligence. https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.11698

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