Abstract: A method, computer program product, and system perform computations using a sparse convolutional neural network accelerator. A first vector comprising only non-zero weight values and first associated positions of the non-zero weight values within a 3D space is received. A second vector comprising only non-zero input activation values and second associated positions of the non-zero input activation values within a 2D space is received. The non-zero weight values are multiplied with the non-zero input activation values, within a multiplier array, to produce a third vector of products. The first associated positions are combined with the second associated positions to produce a fourth vector of positions, where each position in the fourth vector is associated with a respective product in the third vector. The products in the third vector are transmitted to adders in an accumulator array, based on the position associated with each one of the products.

Abstract: A method, computer program product, and system perform computations using a sparse convolutional neural network accelerator. Compressed-sparse data is received for input to a processing element, wherein the compressed-sparse data encodes non-zero elements and corresponding multi-dimensional positions. The non-zero elements are processed in parallel by the processing element to produce a plurality of result values. The corresponding multi-dimensional positions are processed in parallel by the processing element to produce destination addresses for each result value in the plurality of result values. Each result value is transmitted to a destination accumulator associated with the destination address for the result value.