A system to support data gathering for a machine learning (ML) operation comprises a memory unit configured to maintain data for the ML operation in a plurality of memory blocks each accessible via a memory address. The system further comprises an inference engine comprising a plurality of processing tiles each comprising one or more of an on-chip memory (OCM) configured to load and maintain data for local access by components in the processing tile. The system also comprises a core configured to program components of the processing tiles of the inference engine according to an instruction set architecture (ISA) and a data streaming engine configured to stream data between the memory unit and the OCMs of the processing tiles of the inference engine wherein data streaming engine is configured to perform a data gathering operation via a single data gathering instruction of the ISA at the same time.