Architectural Considerations For AI


Custom chips, labeled as artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML), are appearing on a weekly basis, each claiming to be 10X faster than existing devices or consume 1/10 the power. Whether that is enough to dethrone existing architectures, such as GPUs and FPGAs, or whether they will survive alongside those architectures isn't clear yet. The problem, or the opportunity, is that t... » read more

Shifting Toward Data-Driven Chip Architectures


An explosion in data is forcing chipmakers to rethink where to process data, which are the best types of processors and memories for different types of data, and how to structure, partition and prioritize the movement of raw and processed data. New chips from systems companies such as Google, Facebook, Alibaba, and IBM all incorporate this approach. So do those developed by vendors like Appl... » read more

Data Center Evolution: Accelerating Computing With PCI Express 5.0


The PCI Express (PCIe) interface is the critical backbone that moves data at high bandwidth between various compute nodes such as CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs, and workload-specific accelerators. The rise of cloud-based computing and hyperscale data centers, along with high-bandwidth applications like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), have pushed PCIe 4 to its limits. In this white p... » read more

Recalculating The Cost Of Test


The cost of test is rising. For decades, test was limited to a flat 2% of the cost of designing and manufacturing a chip. Today, no one is quite sure what that cost really is, and there doesn't seem to be any single formula for determining it. In some cases, there isn't even a sense of urgency to finding out. Several significant changes are occurring that make any formula difficult to cal... » read more

RISC-V Targets Data Centers


RISC-V vendors are beginning to aim much higher in the compute hierarchy, targeting data centers and supercomputers rather than just simple embedded applications on the edge. In the past, this would have been nearly impossible for a new instruction set architecture. But a growing focus on heterogeneous chip integration, combined with the reduced benefits of scaling and increasing demand for ... » read more

Data Center Evolution: DDR5 DIMMs Advance Server Performance


Driven by a confluence of megatrends, global data traffic is increasing at an exponential rate. For example, 5G networks are enabling billions of AI-powered IoT devices untethered from wired networks. Nowhere is the impact of all this growth being felt more intensely than in data centers. Indeed, hyperscale data centers have become the critical hubs of the global data network. DDR5 DRAM will en... » read more

Isolate Security-Critical Applications On Zynq UltraScale+ Device


Implementing a TEE on the Zynq UltraScale+ platform (RFSoCs and MPSoCs) greatly reduces the attack surface of security-critical applications. Explore this white paper to find out • What a TEE is • How the requirements for a TEE are easily met on the Zynq UltraScale+ platform • Why a TEE is needed, even if hypervisors are used • An example architecture of Prove & Run’s Proven... » read more

Versal Premium ACAPs: Breakthrough Integration of Networked IP On A Power-Optimized, Adaptable Platform


In every market across the world, continuous demand for higher bandwidth metro and core networks scales beyond what today's technologies can support. Data center-centric scientific, enterprise, and consumer applications demand more efficient, higher performance compute that scales beyond what traditional technologies can match. Discrete solutions cannot meet performance, thermal, and bandwidth ... » read more

Versal: The First Adaptive Compute Acceleration Platform (ACAP)


Recent technical challenges have forced the industry to explore options beyond the conventional “one size fits all” CPU scalar processing solution. Very large vector processing (DSP, GPU) solves some problems, but it runs into traditional scaling challenges due to inflexible, inefficient memory bandwidth usage. Traditional FPGA solutions provide programmable memory hierarchy, but the tradit... » read more

Startup Funding: September 2020


It was a good month for startups, with big rounds in automotive, data centers, and AI. A new startup with big backing is taking aim at energy inefficiency in the data center, and another is looking to make the industrial IoT battery-free. SK Hynix founded a new company to analyze semiconductor manufacturing data, and one of China's EV companies sees a massive cash infusion. This month, we look ... » read more

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