3D neural inference processing unit architectures

Three-dimensional neural inference processing units are provided. A first tier comprises a plurality of neural cores. Each core comprises a neural computation unit. The neural computation unit is adapted to apply a plurality of synaptic weights to a plurality of input activations to produce a plurality of output activations. A second tier comprises a first neural network model memory adapted to store the plurality of synaptic weights. A communication network is operatively coupled to the first neural network model memory and to each of the plurality of neural cores, and adapted to provide the synaptic weights from the first neural network model memory to each of the plurality of neural cores.