Socionext, a custom chip developer from Japan, has announced one of the industry's first 32-core datacenter-grade chiplets, which is set to be made on TSMC's 2nm-class fabrication process. The proof-of-concept chiplet could be used for a wide variety of applications, including cloud datacenters, edge servers, 5G/6G infrastructure, and data processing units.
The server chiplet will pack 32 of Arm Neoverse datacenter-grade cores though for now Socionext has not disclosed which one. Keeping in mind that the chip is set to be implemented using one of TSMC's N2 fabrication technologies, expect the company to use one of the more advanced cores that will be used in the 2025 – 2026 timeframe.
The chiplet is expected to be compatible with other chiplets designed for the Arm Total Design ecosystem, including application-specific chiplets to address various workloads (e.g., AI, HPC, edge computing, 5G/6G infrastructure) as well as I/O dies.
Although Socionext calls the device a proof-of-concept Arm Neoverse CSS chiplet, it is designed for single or multiple installations within a single package. By using the upcoming 32-core Arm Neoverse-based chiplet, Socionext and other companies can assembly custom multi-chiplet solutions targeting variety of workloads. For example, it can build CPUs with 32, 64, 128, or more cores. Furthermore, Socionext says that the chiplet could 'complement' its customers' 'current SoC designs.' The company considers re-usability of chiplets as their major advantage.
"Leveraging silicon re-use to create multiple product platforms enables innovative system architectures," said Hisato Yoshida, Corporate Executive Vice President and the Head of Global Development Group at Socionext. "With leading silicon node enablement and our partnership with Arm, we are designing and delivering highly integrated large scale silicon solutions to global customers. This chiplet complements our customers' current SoC designs and provides system architects new degrees of freedom to deliver many platform variants for a product family."
Socionext expects samples of its 2nm chiplet to be available in the first half of 2025, which will make it one of the first datacenter grade CPUs to be made on TSMC's 2nm-class technology.
