Peking University, June 6, 2025: At the recently concluded 50th International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva, Professor Wang Yuan and his team from the School of Integrated Circuits of Peking University (PKU) jumped to the fore among 1,043 inventions from 42 countries and regions, winning the Gold Medal with Congratulations of the Jury for their groundbreaking innovation called PAICORE — a brain-like computing chip for AI edge applications.
Wang Yuan’s team won the prestigious Gold Medal with Congratulations of the Jury
AI edge devices today face significant hurdles: limited computing and storage resources, integration challenges in heterogeneous computing, and a lack of real-time learning capabilities. In response, Professor Wang’s team developed PAICORE, now considered the world’s most powerful brain-inspired chip in both size and energy efficiency.
Built using a 28nm CMOS process, PAICORE features a chip area of 537.98 mm², integrating 1,024 processing cores, 1.919 million neurons, and 4.773 billion synapses. With a computational energy efficiency of 5.181 TSOPS/W, it sets a new benchmark in neuromorphic hardware.
Wang Yuan team’s exhibition booth
PAICORE introduces a unified computational model that seamlessly integrates spiking neural networks (SNNs) with artificial neural networks (ANNs) via reconfigurable processing cores. Its on-chip architecture includes a five-level hierarchical fat-tree network-on-chip (NoC) design, supporting low-latency, high-throughput communication and multi-chip scalability. Notably, the chip features real-time, on-chip learning, with 16 bio-inspired learning cores enabling dynamic adaptation to data changes based on spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP).
The team has already developed two generations of large-scale, general-purpose neuromorphic chips along with a full software stack including PAIFLOW and PAIBOX, supporting applications in image recognition, object tracking, game decision-making, robotic control, and EEG-based sensing. This comprehensive system holds promise for autonomous driving, IoT, and robotics, poised to reshape the future of edge intelligence. With PAICORE, PKU continues to push the boundaries of AI and edge computing on the world stage.
The award certificate
Founded in 1973, the Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions is one of the world’s most prestigious invention fairs, known for its rigorous standards. The Gold Medal with Congratulations of the Jury is granted only through unanimous jury approval.
Including Wang Yuan’s team, the Chinese delegation at the exhibition won a total of 24 awards in this prestigious category, involving cutting-edge areas such as AI, 5G communications, green technology, and healthcare. Wang Yuan’s invention, a poster child of advanced chip design, showcased China's strength in cutting-edge semiconductor and AI technologies.
Written by: Mikal Filipos Weldeyohanes
Edited by: Phoon Hui Yin, Andrena, Chen Shizhuo
Source: PKU News (
Chinese)
