Apparatuses and methods to accelerate matrix multiplication

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses relating to performing vector multiplication are described. Hardware accelerators to perform vector multiplication are also described. In one embodiment, a combined fixed-point and floating-point vector multiplication circuit includes at least one switch to change the circuit between a first mode and a second mode, where in the first mode, each multiplier of a set of multipliers is to multiply mantissas from a same element position of a first floating-point vector and a second floating-point vector to produce a corresponding product, shift the corresponding products with a set of shift registers based on a maximum exponent of exponents for the corresponding products determined by a maximum exponent determiner to produce shifted products, perform an numeric conversion operation on the shifted products with a set of numeric conversion circuits based on sign bits from the same element position of the first floating-point vector and the second floating-point vector to produce signed representations of the shifted products, add the signed representations of the shifted products with a set of adders to produce a single product, and normalize the single product with a normalization circuit based on the maximum exponent into a single floating-point resultant, and in the second mode, each multiplier of the set of multipliers is to multiply values from a same element position of a first integer vector and a second integer vector to produce a corresponding product, and add each corresponding product with the set of adders to produce a single integer resultant.