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Intel "Meteor Lake" and "Arrow Lake" Use GPU Chiplets

Intel's upcoming "Meteor Lake" and "Arrow Lake" client mobile processors introduce an interesting twist to the chiplet concept. Earlier represented in vague-looking IP blocks, new artistic impressions of the chip put out by Intel shed light on a 3-die approach not unlike the Ryzen "Vermeer" MCM that has up to two CPU core dies (CCDs) talking to a cIOD (client IO die), which handles all the SoC connectivity; Intel's design has one major difference, and that's integrated graphics. Apparently, Intel's MCM uses a GPU die sitting next to the CPU core die, and the I/O (SoC) die. Intel likes to call its chiplets "tiles," and so we'll go with that.

The Graphics tile, CPU tile, and the SoC or I/O tile, are built on three different silicon fabrication process nodes based on the degree of need for the newer process node. The nodes used are Intel 4 (optically 7 nm EUV, but with characteristics of a 5 nm-class node); Intel 20A (characteristics of 2 nm), and external TSMC N3 (3 nm) node. At this point we don't know which tile gets what. From the looks of it, the CPU tile has a hybrid CPU core architecture made up of "Redwood Cove" P-cores, and "Crestmont" E-core clusters.

AMD Radeon RX 6x50 XT Series Possibly in June-July, RX 6500 in May

AMD's final refresh of the RDNA2 graphics architecture, the Radeon RX 6x50 series, could debut in June or July 2022, according to Greymon55, a reliable source with GPU leaks. The final refresh of RDNA2 could see AMD use faster 18 Gbps GDDR6 memory across the board, and eke out higher engine clocks on existing silicon IP. At this point it's not known if these new chips will be built on the same 7 nm process, or are an optical shrink to 6 nm (TSMC N6). Such a shrink to a node that offers 18% higher transistor density, would have significant payoffs with clock-speed headroom. AMD's RDNA3-based 5 nm GPUs could debut only toward the end of the year.

In related news, AMD is preparing to launch another entry-level SKU within the RX 6000 series; the Radeon RX 6500 (non-XT). Based on the same 6 nm Navi 24 silicon as the RX 6500 XT, this SKU could have a core-configuration that's in-between the RX 6500 XT and the RX 6400, in featuring 768 stream processors across 12 compute units; and 4 GB of GDDR6 memory, which is similar to the RX 6400, but with higher engine clocks. The RX 6500 is targeting a $150 (MSRP) price-point.

TSMC Sees Record Q4 Profits, Plans to Increase CapEx

TSMC has held its quarterly earnings conference today and it's good news all around, at least if you're TSMC or one of its shareholders, as the company reported record profits of US$6.01 billion for the quarter, or an increase of 16.4 percent compared to the same quarter last year. At the same time, the company announced that it's going to increase its CapEx, by no less than US$40-44 billion this year, which should be compared to the US$30 billion in 2021. The company is expecting to continue to rake in money this quarter, with an expected revenue before expenditures and tax of US$16.6 to US$17.2 billion, compared to US$15.74 billion for this quarter.

Looking at the graphs provided by TSMC which shows where its revenue is coming from, its 7 nm and 5 nm nodes are now accounting for 50 percent of TSMC's revenues. The 5 nm node on its own, almost made as much money as its 16 and 28 nm nodes combined in Q4. We can also see that the 5 nm has gone from eight percent of TSMC's revenues in 2020, to 19 percent this year, with the 7 nm node dropping slightly from 33 percent to 31 percent. 2021 saw a massive 51 percent revenue growth in automotive components for TSMC compared to 2020, yet it only accounted for four percent of TSMC's total revenue for 2021. Smartphones and HPC are jointly holding 81 percent of TSMC's business based on revenue, which isn't likely to change any time soon.

XFX BC-160 Mining Card Based on "Navi 12" Sells in China for $2,000

XFX started selling the AMD BC-160 cryptocurrency mining card based on the AMD "Navi 12" silicon. The card is available on AliExpress for $2,000. The "Navi 12," if you recall, is an MCM mobile GPU that AMD developed exclusively for the 2019 MacBook Pro. It combined an RDNA-based GPU die with up to 16 GB of HBM2 across a 2048-bit wide interface. Built on the 7 nm node, the GPU die of "Navi 12" on the BC-160 is configured with 36 compute units (2,304 stream processors), and 8 GB of HBM2 across the full 2048-bit memory bus.

The card uses a blower-type cooling solution, and is rated with 150 W of typical board power, with a claimed 69.5 Mh/s (ETH). Drivers are provided for Linux, and mining software supported include Team Red Miner and Phoenix Miner. The card features a PCI-Express 4.0 x16 interface, its driver supports systems with up to 12 of these installed. A marketing slide sheds light on the nomenclature AMD is using for its mining cards. The "BC" in BC-160 represents "blockchain compute," the "1" stands for generation, in this case, first generation; and "60" represents hashrate-class with ETH.

AMD Prepares 7nm "Renoir X" Processors Lacking Integrated Graphics, and "Vermeer S"

AMD apparently finds itself with quite a bit of undigested 7 nm "Renoir" silicon, which it plans to repackage as Socket AM4 processors, reports VideoCardz, citing sources on ChipHell forums. The most interesting aspect of this leak is that the silicon variant, codenamed "Renoir X," comes with a disabled iGPU. This is hence a case of AMD harvesting enough "Renoir" dies with faulty iGPU components, to sell them off as desktop processors. It is also learned that these chips don't feature all of the 8 "Zen 2" CPU cores present on the silicon, but rather AMD is looking to carve out entry-level SKUs, such as the Ryzen 3 or Athlon. The company lacks Athlon desktop SKUs based on "Zen 2" or later, although traditionally the company sought to include some basic iGPU solution with its Athlon SKUs.

In related news, the source reports that AMD will refresh its Ryzen desktop processor family with the new "Vermeer S" Ryzen processors. Built on the existing Socket AM4 package, these use AMD's "Zen 3" CCDs that feature 3D Vertical Cache (3DV Cache), much like the recently announced EPYC "Milan X" server processors. AMD claimed that the 3DV Cache technology has a significant performance uplift on performance akin to a generational update. These could be the company's first response to Intel Core "Alder Lake," although since they're based on the older AM4 platform, could only feature DDR4 and PCIe Gen 4. Much like the Ryzen 3000XT series, these appear to be a stopgap product lineup, with AMD targeting late-Q2/early-Q3 for next-generation "Raphael" Socket AM5 processors based on the "Zen 4" architecture, with DDR5 and PCIe Gen 5.

Intel "Meteor Lake" Chips Already Being Built at the Arizona Fab

With its 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake-P" mobile processors still on the horizon, Intel is already building test batches of the 14th Gen "Meteor Lake" mobile processors, at its Fab 42 facility in Chandler, Arizona. "Meteor Lake" is a multi-chip module that leverages Intel's Foveros packaging technology to combine "tiles" (purpose built dies) based on different silicon fabrication processes depending on their function and transistor-density/power requirements. It combines four distinct tiles across a single package—the compute tile, with the CPU cores; the graphics tile with the iGPU: the SoC I/O tile, which handles the processor's platform I/O; and a fourth tile, which is currently unknown. This could be a memory stack with similar functions as the HBM stacks on "Sapphire Rapids," or something entirely different.

The compute tile contains the processor's various CPU core types. The P cores are "Redwood Cove," which are two generations ahead of the current "Golden Cove." If Intel's 12-20% generational IPC uplift cadence holds, we're looking at cores with up to 30% higher IPC than "Golden Cove" (50-60% higher than "Skylake."). "Meteor Lake" also debuts Intel's next-generation E-core, codenamed "Crestmont." The compute tile is rumored to be fabricated on the Intel 4 node (optically a 7 nm-class node, but with characteristics similar to TSMC N5).

AMD Readies MI250X Compute Accelerator with 110 CUs and 128 GB HBM2E

AMD is preparing an update to its compute accelerator lineup with the new MI250X. Based on the CDNA2 architecture, and built on existing 7 nm node, the MI250X will be accompanied by a more affordable variant, the MI250. According to leaks put out by ExecutableFix, the MI250X packs a whopping 110 compute units (7,040 stream processors), running at 1.70 GHz. The package features 128 GB of HBM2E memory, and a package TDP of 500 W. As for speculative performance numbers, it is expected to offer double-precision (FP64) throughput of 47.9 TFLOP/s, ditto full-precision (FP32), and 383 TFLOP/s half-precision (FP16 and BFLOAT16). AMD's MI200 "Aldebaran" family of compute accelerators are expected to square off against Intel's "Ponte Vecchio" Xe-HPC, and NVIDIA Hopper H100 accelerators in 2022.

ASRock Announces Radeon RX 6600 Challenger Series Graphics Cards

ASRock, the leading global motherboard, graphics card and mini PC manufacturer, today launched new Challenger series products based on AMD Radeon RX 6600 GPUs. Built on the 7 nm manufacturing process, the new ASRock graphics cards offer support for the DirectX 12 Ultimate API, hardware-accelerated ray tracing, HDMI 2.1, PCI Express 4.0, and the Microsoft Windows 11 operating system. With a wealth of exclusive features, the new graphics cards are designed to provide visually stunning, high-refresh rate 1080p gaming experiences to the midrange market.

The new graphics cards are built on the breakthrough AMD RDNA 2 gaming architecture, designed to deliver the optimal balance of performance and power efficiency. Offering 32 MB of high-performance AMD Infinity Cache, 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, AMD Smart Access Memory and other advanced features, the new graphics cards are designed to bring next-generation desktop gaming experiences to the midrange market. They also support the AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution open-source spatial upscaling solution, which is designed to increase framerates while delivering high-resolution gaming experiences.

Samsung Foundry Announces GAA Ready, 3nm in 2022, 2nm in 2025, Other Speciality Nodes

Samsung Electronics, a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today unveiled plans for continuous process technology migration to 3- and 2-nanometer (nm) based on the company's Gate-All-Around (GAA) transistor structure at its 5th annual Samsung Foundry Forum (SFF) 2021. With a theme of "Adding One More Dimension," the multi-day virtual event is expected to draw over 2,000 global customers and partners. At this year's event, Samsung will share its vision to bolster its leadership in the rapidly evolving foundry market by taking each respective part of foundry business to the next level: process technology, manufacturing operations, and foundry services.

"We will increase our overall production capacity and lead the most advanced technologies while taking silicon scaling a step further and continuing technological innovation by application," said Dr. Siyoung Choi, President and Head of Foundry Business at Samsung Electronics. "Amid further digitalization prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, our customers and partners will discover the limitless potential of silicon implementation for delivering the right technology at the right time."

XFX Launches Radeon RX 6900 XT Speedster ZERO WB Graphics Card

XFX formally launched the Radeon RX 6900 XT Speedster ZERO WB, a graphics card it teased last month. The company's new flagship product, the Speedster ZERO WB is a graphics card with a factory-fitted full-coverage water-block, for those with DIY liquid-cooling setups. It appears to be based on an all new PCB with a more tuned-up 14+2 phase VRM setup than that of the air-cooled RX 6900 XT Speedster MERC 319, which pulls power from a trio of 8-pin PCIe power connectors.

Under the hood is a 7 nm "Navi 21" XTXH silicon, which is able to sustain 10% higher engine clocks than the standard "Navi 21," and XFX claims that it has unlocked overdrive slider limit (the de facto maximum overclock), beyond 3 GHz. Out of the box, the card comes with a maximum boost frequency of 2525 MHz, compared to 2250 MHz AMD-reference. The water block came about from a collaboration with EK Water Blocks, and combines a nickel-plated copper primary material with a slightly frosted acrylic top that's studded with addressable RGB LEDs. XFX didn't reveal pricing.

TSMC Rumoured to Build New Fab in Southern Taiwan

According to Nikkei, TSMC is set to start building a new fab in Kaohsiung, which is Taiwan's third largest city and located in the south of the island. It's also where ASE Technology Holding is located, which is the world's largest chip packaging and testing contractor. So far, TSMC doesn't have any fabs this far south in Taiwan, but it's not without its challenges.

The new fab is said to be designed to build chips on TSMC's 6 and 7 nm nodes, which are currently their most popular nodes, although this is likely to change as their 5 nm node begins to ramp up production. That said, there will still continue to be a huge demand for 6 and 7 nm parts, as these nodes transition to become mainstream production nodes.

BIOSTAR Brings AMD Cezanne Support to Motherboards Using BIOS Update

BIOSTAR, a leading brand of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, today announced product support for the latest AMD Ryzen 5000G series Cezanne processors. AMD's next-generation Ryzen 5000G series desktop processors codenamed "Cezanne" are ready to invade the global market. The new 5000G series processors are based on Zen 3 architecture, AMD's Ryzen 5000 series of desktop APUs based on the Zen 3 CPU and Vega GPU microarchitectures succeeding the Ryzen 4000 "Renoir" series.

Extreme performance enabled for personal computing with up to 8 cores fueled by the world's most advanced 7 nm processor core technology, the AMD Ryzen 5000 G-series desktop processors with Radeon graphics deliver ultra-fast responsiveness and multi-threaded performance for any use case.

AMD Ryzen 7 5700G and Ryzen 5 5600G Already Outselling 5800X and 5600X on Mindfactory

German online retailer Mindfactory may not be as big as Amazon, but it puts out its sales figures of PC hardware components, that often get picked up by the tech-press as a sample size. While using its data as a yardstick for AMD outselling Intel in the DIY market is debatable, sales of individual AMD or Intel products provide valuable insights to what consumers are after these days. Apparently, the recently launched Ryzen 7 5700G and Ryzen 5 5600G APUs are already outselling the Ryzen 7 5800X and Ryzen 5 5600X, respectively, for the week of 2nd August running.

AMD designed the Ryzen 7 5700G to succeed the popular Ryzen 7 3700X, and the 5600G to succeed the best-selling Ryzen 5 3600, which explains the absence of "Ryzen 7 5700X" or "Ryzen 5 5600," at least in the DIY market. It's little surprise then, that just as the 3700X outsold the 3800X, Mindfactory bagged orders for 820 units of 5700G, as opposed to 610 units of the 5800X; and 900 units of the 5600G, compared to 680 units of the 5600X. It's interesting to note that the 5700G even outsold the 5600X. The 5700G and 5600G are based on the 7 nm "Cezanne" silicon, which packs up to 8 "Zen 3" cores, and an iGPU with up to 512 stream processors. Unlike "Vermeer," Cezanne is a monolithic die.

AMD "Zen 3" 3D Vertical Cache Detailed Some More

Senior Technology Fellow Yuzo Fukuzaki shed light on the elusive new CPU technology AMD unveiled at its Computex 2021 keynote, 3D Vertical Cache (3DV Cache). The company had then detailed it as an additional 64 MB last-level cache stacked on top of a CCD (CPU core complex die), which significantly improves performance, including a claimed 15% average gain in gaming performance, which accounts for a generational performance gain over "Zen 3." The prototype AMD unveiled in its keynote was based on a Socket AM4 processor with "Zen 3" CCDs that have the 3DV Cache components in place. With two such CCDs, a 16-core processor would end up with 192 MB of L3 cache.

Yuzo Fukuzaki's theory sheds light on the most plausible position of 3DV Cache in the processor's cache hierarchy. Apparently, it expands the CCD's L3 cache, and doesn't serve as an "L4" victim cache to the L3. This way, the cache setup remains transparent to the OS, which sees it as a contiguous 96 MB block of L3 cache (per CCD). The 3DV Cache die is an SRAM chip fabricated on the same 7 nm process as the "Zen 3" CCD. It measures 6 mm x 6 mm (36 mm²), and is located above the region of the CCD that typically has the 32 MB L3 SRAM. Fukuzaki estimates that roughly 23,000 TSVs (through-silicon vias), each about 17 µm in size, connect the 3DV Cache die to the main CCD.

Curious AMD Navi 21-based Graphics Card with 8GB Hits the Radar

AMD's 7 nm "Navi 21" silicon powers the company's Radeon RX 6800 series and flagship RX 6900 XT graphics cards. It's a big chip, competitive with NVIDIA's fastest GeForce RTX 30-series products, and AMD set 16 GB as the standard memory amount for all products based on this chip, despite its 256-bit wide GDDR6 memory interface. Komachi Ensaka spotted a curious-looking Navi 21 product with 8 GB of memory, on the UserBenchmark database. The card is slower than the desktop RX 6800, but found trading blows with the RX 6700 XT. Speculation is rife as to what it could be.

The most plausible theory is that it could be a prototype, with its user testing out UserBenchmark. The GeForce RTX 3070 Ti has a shaky performance equation with the similarly-priced RX 6800, and any attempt to close the gap between the RX 6700 XT and the RX 6800 would cannibalize the latter, unless that's exactly what AMD wants—a product competitive with the RTX 3070 Ti, but with a leaner bill of materials than the RX 6800 on account of the 8 GB memory.

New AMD Radeon PRO W6000X Series GPUs Bring Groundbreaking High-Performance AMD RDNA 2 Architecture to Mac Pro

AMD today announced availability of the new AMD Radeon PRO W6000X series GPUs for Mac Pro. The new GPU product line delivers exceptional performance and incredible visual fidelity to power a wide variety of demanding professional applications and workloads, including 3D rendering, 8K video compositing, color correction and more.

Built on groundbreaking AMD RDNA 2 architecture, AMD Infinity Cache and other advanced technologies, the new workstation graphics line-up includes the AMD Radeon PRO W6900X and AMD Radeon PRO W6800X GPUs. Mac Pro users also have the option of choosing the AMD Radeon PRO W6800X Duo graphics card, a dual-GPU configuration that leverages high-speed AMD Infinity Fabric interconnect technology to deliver outstanding levels of compute performance.

ASRock Announces Radeon RX 6600 XT Phantom Gaming and Challenger Series

ASRock, the leading global motherboard, graphics card and mini PC manufacturer, today launched new Phantom Gaming and Challenger series products based on AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT GPUs. The new ASRock graphics cards are built on the 7 nm manufacturing process and AMD RDNA 2 gaming architecture, and include support for the DirectX 12 Ultimate API, hardware-accelerated raytracing, HDMI 2.1, and PCI Express 4.0. In addition, with high-speed 8 GB GDDR6 memory plus a wealth of exclusive features, the ASRock AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT series graphics cards can provide the ultimate 1080p gaming performance.

The high-end ASRock AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT Phantom Gaming D 8 GB OC graphics card features the triple-fan Phantom Gaming 3X cooling system for excellent cooling performance, as well as a unique Striped Axial Fan, Air Deflecting Fin and Ultra-fit Heatpipe to greatly increase cooling efficiency. The stylish metal backplate strengthens the structure and prevents damage to the board. With the addition of an ARGB fan, ARGB LED board, and Polychrome SYNC lighting control software, users can fully customize and control their own lighting system. The cool black and red appearance and the ultimate factory-preset overclocking settings make ASRock AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT Phantom Gaming D 8 GB OC graphics card ideal for hardcore gamers.

NVIDIA "Ada Lovelace" Architecture Designed for N5, GeForce Returns to TSMC

NVIDIA's upcoming "Ada Lovelace" architecture, both for compute and graphics, is reportedly being designed for the 5 nanometer silicon fabrication node by TSMC. This marks NVIDIA's return to the Taiwanese foundry after its brief excursion to Samsung, with the 8 nm "Ampere" graphics architecture. "Ampere" compute dies continue to be built on TSMC 7 nm nodes. NVIDIA is looking to double the compute performance on its next-generation GPUs, with throughput approaching 70 TFLOP/s, from a numeric near-doubling in CUDA cores, generation-over-generation. These will also be run at clock speeds above 2 GHz. One can expect "Ada Lovelace" only by 2022, as TSMC N5 matures.

Valve Steam Deck SoC Detailed: AMD Brings Zen2 and RDNA2 to the Table

Valve today announced its first big splash into the console market with Steam Deck, a device out to eat the Nintendo Switch's lunch. The announcement comes as yet another feather in AMD's cap for its semi-custom SoC business, benefiting from being the only company with an x86-64 CPU license and having a cutting-edge graphics hardware IP. Built on the 7 nm node at TSMC, the semi-custom chip at the heart of the Steam Deck is designed for extended gameplay on battery, and is a monolithic silicon that combines CPU, GPU, and core-logic.

The yet-unnamed semi-custom chip features a 4-core/8-thread CPU based on the "Zen 2" microarchitecture, with a nominal clock speed of 2.40 GHz, and up to 3.50 GHz boost. The CPU component offers an FP32 throughput of 448 GFLOP/s. The GPU is based on AMD's latest RDNA2 graphics architecture—the same one powering the Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, and Radeon RX 6900 XT—and is comprised of 8 RDNA2 compute units (512 stream processors). The GPU operates at an engine clock speed of 1.10 GHz to 1.60 GHz, with peak compute power of 1.6 TFLOP/s. The silicon uses a unified memory interface, and a cutting-edge LPDDR5 memory controller.

AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT Arrives this August

AMD is allegedly preparing for an August 2021 debut of its Radeon RX 6600 XT graphics card in the retail segment, according to tech YouTuber Coreteks. Released exclusively as custom-design cards, through the company's AIB partners, the card will reportedly come with an MSRP price of USD $399, or roughly $100 less than that of the RX 6700 XT (which is being scalped for north of $800). The lack of a reference-design (MBA) model in the retail channel means that the card will not be sold through the AMD website.

The Radeon RX 6600 XT will reportedly be based on the 7 nm "Navi 23" silicon, although it remains to be seen if it maxes the silicon out. 8 GB will be the standard memory amount, across a 128-bit wide GDDR6 memory interface, cushioned by a 32 MB Infinity Cache. As for performance, Coreteks predicts that the RX 6600 XT will perform ±5% of the RX 5700 XT and the GTX 1080 Ti, which could make it a formidable card for AAA gaming at 1080p, or at 1440p with FSR.

PowerColor Website Lists Radeon RX 6600 XT and RX 6600

AMD board partner PowerColor's website briefly showed product categories for graphics cards based on the upcoming Radeon RX 6600 XT and Radeon RX 6600 graphics processors. This would mean that a formal launch of the two is just around the corner. Both SKUs are reportedly based on the 7 nm "Navi 23" silicon. The RX 6600 XT maxes it out, featuring 2,048 stream processors, while the RX 6600 is slightly cut down, in featuring 1,792 of them. The "Navi 23" silcon is based on the same RDNA2 graphics architecture as the rest of the RX 6000 series, which means DirectX 12 Ultimate support, including raytracing. Both feature 8 GB of video memory, whereas the RX 6600 also comes in 4 GB. Both memory options use 16 Gbps GDDR6 memory, over a 128-bit wide memory bus. PowerColor is expected to design a variety of custom-design products based on the two.

Intel Books Two 3 nm Processor Orders at TSMC Manufacturing Facilities

Intel's struggles with semiconductor manufacturing have been known for a very long time. Starting from its 10 nm design IP to the latest 7 nm delays, we have seen the company struggle to deliver its semiconductor nodes on time. On the other hand, Intel's competing companies are using 3rd party foundries to manufacture their designs and not worry about the yields of semiconductor nodes. Most of the time, that 3rd party company is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Today, thanks to some reporting from Nikkei Asia, we are learning that Intel is tapping TSMC's capacities to manufacture some of the company's future processors.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, Nikkei notes that: "Intel, America's biggest chipmaker, is working with TSMC on at least two 3-nm projects to design central processing units for notebooks and data center servers in an attempt to regain market share it has lost to Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia over the past few years. Mass production of these chips is expected to begin by the end of 2022 at the earliest." This means that we could expect to see some of the TSMC manufactured Intel processors by the year 2023/2024.

NVIDIA Launches A100 PCIe-Based Accelerator with 80 GB HBM2E Memory

During this year's ISC 2021 event, as a part of the company's exhibition portfolio, NVIDIA has decided to launch an updated version of the A100 accelerator. A couple of months ago, in November, NVIDIA launched an 80 GB HBM2E version of the A100 accelerator, on the SXM2 proprietary form-factor. Today, we are getting the same upgraded GPU in the more standard dual-slot PCIe type of card. Featuring a GA100 GPU built on TSMC's 7 nm process, this SKU has 6192 CUDA cores present. To pair with the beefy amount of computing, the GPU needs appropriate memory. This time, there is as much as 80 GB of HBM2E memory. The memory achieves a bandwidth of 2039 GB/s, with memory dies running at an effective speed of 3186 Gbps. An important note is that the TDP of the GPU has been lowered to 250 Watts, compared to the 400 Watt SXM2 solution.

To pair with the new upgrade, NVIDIA made another announcement today and that is an enterprise version of Microsoft's DirectStorage, called NVIDIA GPUDirect Storage. It represents a way of allowing applications to access the massive memory pool built on the GPU, with 80 GB of super-fast HBM2E memory.

Applied Materials Breakthrough in Chip Wiring Enables Logic Scaling to 3nm and Beyond

Applied Materials, Inc. today unveiled a new way to engineer the wiring of advanced logic chips that enables scaling to the 3 nm node and beyond. While size reduction benefits transistor performance, the opposite is true in the interconnect wiring: smaller wires have greater electrical resistance which reduces performance and increases power consumption. Without a materials engineering breakthrough, interconnect via resistance would increase by a factor of 10 from the 7 nm node to the 3 nm node, negating the benefits of transistor scaling.

Applied Materials has developed a new materials engineering solution called the Endura Copper Barrier Seed IMS. It is an Integrated Materials Solution that combines seven different process technologies in one system under high vacuum: ALD, PVD, CVD, copper reflow, surface treatment, interface engineering and metrology. The combination replaces conformal ALD with selective ALD, eliminating a high-resistivity barrier at the via interface. The solution also includes copper reflow technology that enables void free gap fill in narrow features. Electrical resistance at the via contact interface is reduced by up to 50 percent, improving chip performance and power consumption, and enabling logic scaling to continue to 3 nm and beyond.

Intel Ponte Vecchio GPU to Be Liquid Cooled Inside OAM Form Factor

Intel's upcoming Ponte Vecchio graphics card is set to be the company's most powerful processor ever designed, and the chip is indeed looking like an engineering marvel. From Intel's previous teasers, we have learned that Ponte Vecchio is built using 47 "magical tiles" or 47 dies which are responsible either for computing elements, Rambo Cache, Xe links, or something else. Today, we are getting a new piece of information coming from Igor's LAB, regarding the Ponte Vecchio and some of its design choices. For starters, the GPU will be a heterogeneous design that consists out of many different nodes. Some parts of the GPU will be manufactured on Intel's 10 nm SuperFin and 7 nm technologies, while others will use TSMC's 7 nm and 5 nm nodes. The smaller and more efficient nodes will probably be used for computing elements. Everything will be held together by Intel's EMIB and Foveros 3D packaging.

Next up, we have information that this massive Intel processor will be accountable for around 600 Watts of heat output, which is a lot to cool. That is why in the leaked renders, we see that Intel envisioned these processors to be liquid-cooled, which would make the cooling much easier and much more efficient compared to air cooling of such a high heat output. Another interesting thing is that the Ponte Vecchio is designed to fit inside OAM (OCP Accelerator Module) form factor, an alternative to the regular PCIe-based accelerators in data centers. OAM is used primarily by hyper scalers like Facebook, Amazon, Google, etc., so we imagine that Intel already knows its customers before the product even hits the market.
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