Accelerating Vector Search up to +40% with Intel’s latest Xeon CPU - Emerald Rapids

Vector distance calculations are crucial in vector databases as they determine the similarity between data objects. Weaviate, a vector database, spends up to 60% of its CPU time on these calculations. To improve performance, leveraging algorithmic and hardware optimizations is essential. Intel's new 5th Gen Xeon Processor - Emerald Rapids enables significant speedups in vector search operations through advanced SIMD instruction sets like AVX-256 and AVX-512. By using these instructions with loop unrolling, Weaviate achieved a ~40% QPS speed up at 90% Recall on Intel's new Xeon Processor, Emerald Rapids.