Segmented Operations using Matrix Multiplications (2506.23906v1)

Abstract: Specialized computational units that perform small matrix multiplications as primitive operations are typically present in modern accelerators. However, these units are often underutilized for many fundamental operations besides dense matrix multiplications. The analysis of algorithms for such architectures is currently stagnated due to the lack of a rigorous theoretical model of computation that captures their characteristics. In this work, we propose MMV-RAM, a computational model tailored to matrix multiplication accelerators. MMV-RAM judiciously extends the Vector-RAM model with an additional processing unit that multiplies two matrices of sizes $n\times s$ and $s\times s$ in a single parallel step, where $s$ is a model parameter. We provide a detailed theoretical analysis of the model, and carefully balance the computational power between the matrix and vector units, guided by the circuit complexity lower bound that parity is not in AC[0]. In MMV-RAM, we study algorithms for segmented scan and sum, two fundamental parallel primitives. We propose a segmented scan algorithm that uses matrix multiplications to perform speculative block-scan computations, which runs in $O(\log_s(n))$ steps. In contrast, we show that any algorithm that uses only the vector unit of MMV-RAM requires $\Omega\left(\frac{\log_2(n)}{\log_2\log_2(n)}\right)$ steps. We further apply these techniques to obtain similar theoretical speedups for element-wise vector multiplication and matrix multiplication. Beyond the worst-case complexity analysis, we propose algorithms for segmented operations that could lead to highly efficient and pragmatic implementations. For example, we observe that segmented sum is a combination of three elementary parallel primitives: scan, compress, and vector differentiation. As a case study, we implement...