Baidu Kunlun (Kunlunxin)

Manufacturer

Baidu Kunlun (Kunlunxin) is a company focused on developing AI accelerators (NPU chips) based on its proprietary XPU architecture. The Kunlun project originated within Baidu in 2011 to build hardware for AI tasks like training and inference. In 2018, Baidu unveiled the first full-fledged Kunlun 818-300 chip, manufactured on Samsung's 14-nm process, delivering up to 260 TOPS. In 2021, the Kunlun division spun off from Baidu into the independent company Kunlunxin, which continues to advance chip lines like Kunlun. These accelerators emphasize energy efficiency, integration with frameworks like PaddlePaddle, and AI workloads in data centers, competing with Nvidia and Huawei solutions.