Reverse Engineering the Qualcomm NPU Compiler

The engineer reverse engineered Qualcomm's QNPU SDK v2.46.0.260424 to reveal how the compiler allocates tensors to VTCM memory. Findings show the compiler prioritizes tensor lifetime placement to avoid DDR access, which is energy and speed critical. This exposes a key bottleneck in edge ML inference on Qualcomm NPUs and enables better model optimization for developers.