Anker Launches 'thus' Chip To Supercharge On‑device Ai Across Its Products

Anker, which is mainly popular for its charging solutions and smart home products, is jumping into the custom-silicon business, with its newly announced chip called “Thus.” The motive behind this is to give its wearable products AI capabilities that run locally on-device. The first device to use the Thus AI chip platform will be a new model of headphones (earbuds), which will debut during the Anker Day event on May 21st.

Anker’s Thus chip will bring on‑device AI capabilities to its upcoming headphones

Anker says its new “Thus” chip is the world’s first Compute-in-Memory (CIM) AI audio chip with neural networks. It says that the chip is “inspired by the working of the human brain” in that the storage and processing are done in one place instead of being kept separate, like regular computer chips. The chip integrates computing power directly into NOR flash memory cells, which offer faster read speeds than NAND memory. 

This NOR-based CIM system apparently requires very little space, which will make it very suitable for small devices like earbuds/headphones. Anker notes that headphones are a particularly tough environment to showcase what a new chip can do. This is because they have limited space for components and operate with just a few milliwatts of power. If the new chip delivers, Anker plans to use it in other mobile accessories and IoT devices. 

More details on May 21st

Anker didn’t say much about its upcoming headphones or its AI capabilities. However, it did announce one specific feature: Clear Calls. As the name hints, it will cancel noise “with a large neural network running entirely on devices, supported by eight MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems)  microphones and two bone conduction sensors.” The company claims that it will make conversations much clearer, even in places that are challenging for traditional noise cancellation.

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