Computing specialist Blaize has agreed a strategic partnership with Accton, a premier provider of networking and communications solutions, to bring edge AI computing to the AI inspection market. The Accton Smart Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) solution will utilize the Blaize Pathfinder P1600 Embedded System on Module (SoM) to add visual AI production line inspection for assembly, manufacturing, packaging, and appearance activities. Colby Chou, IoT business unit head of Accton, says: "We are pleased to partner with Blaize to provide our customers with a cost-effective AI inspection service. Our solution helps our customer reduces up to 85 percent of the operators' workload and significantly improves product quality. The Accton product Pallas, uses Blaize's P1600 SoM, leveraging the programmability and efficiency benefits of the Blaize Graph Streaming Processor (GSP) architecture. The SoM is ideal for rugged and challenging environments and offers the processing power, low latency, and energy efficiency crucial for AI inferencing workloads at the edge and the inherent stringent inspection requirements. Accton will be able to implement computer vision applications and new AI inferencing solutions across a range of edge smart vision use cases using the Blaize architecture. Dinakar Munagala, co-founder and CEO of Blaize, says: "Blaize looks forward to providing Accton with a solution that enables stricter quality standards, higher yield, and more efficient manufacturing and inspection processes.

"We are pleased to partner with Blaize to provide our customers with a cost-effective AI inspection service. Our solution helps our customer reduces up to 85% of the operators' workload and significantly improves product quality," said Colby Chou, IoT BU Head of Accton. The Accton product, Pallas uses Blaize's P1600 SoM, leveraging the programmability and efficiency benefits of the Blaize Graph Streaming Processor (GSP) architecture. The SoM is ideal for rugged and challenging environments and offers the processing power, low latency and energy efficiency crucial for AI inferencing workloads at the edge and the inherent stringent inspection requirements. Accton will be able to implement computer vision applications and new AI inferencing solutions across a range of edge smart vision use cases using the Blaize architecture.

Global demand for tech hardware has surged (partly) due to COVID-19 and the contactless economy. Looking to the future, Taiwan wants to expand it's resume by cultivating a world-class AI ecosystem. That's where the AI NEXT program comes in -- a series of online events designed to help all kinds of businesses, people in tech, and investors enter the global AI ecosystem and connect with Taiwanese AI companies. This first online forum hosted by the AI NEXT program, 2020 AI NOW Online Tech Forum EP1: AI in the Contactless Economy features talks from 6 directors and CEOs about their AI innovations in manufacturing, retail, and mobility. What do these 6 AI innovators all have in common?