Chip comparison
Groq LPU (Language Processing Unit) vs SambaNova SN40L
Side-by-side specs
Straight from each vendor's datasheet. Winner in bold: higher throughput, memory, or transistor count; lower power draw or price. Sparse (2:4) throughput roughly doubles the FP8/INT8 numbers shown.
| Field | Groq LPU (Language Processing Unit) | SambaNova SN40L |
|---|---|---|
| Process node | GlobalFoundries 14nm | TSMC N5 |
| TDP | 375 W | 700 W |
| Memory | 0.23 GB SRAM (230 MB on-die) | 1500 GB DDR5 (three-tier: 64 MB SRAM + 64 GB HBM3 + 1.5 TB DDR5) |
| Memory bandwidth | 80,000 GB/s | — |
| FP16 (dense) | 188 TFLOPS | 638 TFLOPS |
| FP8 (dense) | — | 1,250 TFLOPS |
| INT8 (dense) | 750 TOPS | — |
| Form factor | PCIe (GroqCard) / rack-scale GroqRack | PCIe (SN40L DataScale system) |
| Announced | 2020-01-01 | 2023-09-19 |
| Released | 2021-06-01 | 2024-01-01 |
Robots running Groq LPU (Language Processing Unit)
No robots publicly running it yet.
Robots running SambaNova SN40L
No robots publicly running it yet.
Data centers with Groq LPU (Language Processing Unit)
No data centers publicly running it yet.
Data centers with SambaNova SN40L
No data centers publicly running it yet.
Common questions
Groq LPU (Language Processing Unit) vs SambaNova SN40L: which is faster for training?
SambaNova SN40L has 6.65x the dense FP16/BF16 throughput of the other (Groq LPU (Language Processing Unit): 188 TFLOPS; SambaNova SN40L: 1,250 TFLOPS). Real-world training speed also depends on memory bandwidth, interconnect, and software stack: see the spec diff for those inputs.
Groq LPU (Language Processing Unit) vs SambaNova SN40L: which has more memory?
SambaNova SN40L carries more HBM (Groq LPU (Language Processing Unit): 0.23 GB SRAM (230 MB on-die); SambaNova SN40L: 1500 GB DDR5 (three-tier: 64 MB SRAM + 64 GB HBM3 + 1.5 TB DDR5)). Memory capacity sets the largest model that fits on one chip without partitioning; memory bandwidth sets inference throughput.
Groq LPU (Language Processing Unit) vs SambaNova SN40L: which is more power-efficient?
Dense FP16/BF16 TFLOPS per watt: Groq LPU (Language Processing Unit) 0.50 (188 ÷ 375 W); SambaNova SN40L 1.79 (1,250 ÷ 700 W). SambaNova SN40L wins at the die level; system-level efficiency also depends on cooling and interconnect.
See also: every chip comparison · Groq LPU (Language Processing Unit) full page · SambaNova SN40L full page.