A system for bit-serial computation in a neural network is described. The system may be embodied on an integrated circuit and include one or more bit-serial tiles for performing bit-serial computations in which each bit-serial tile receives input neurons and synapses, and communicates output neurons. Also included is an activation memory for storing the neurons and a dispatcher and a reducer. The dispatcher reads neurons and synapses from memory and communicates either the neurons or the synapses bit-serially to the one or more bit-serial tiles. The other of the neurons or the synapses are communicated bit-parallelly to the one or more bit-serial tiles, or according to a further embodiment, may also be communicated bit-serially to the one or more bit-serial tiles. The reducer receives the output neurons from the one or more tiles, and communicates the output neurons to the activation memory.