Forward-looking: TSMC's 2nm manufacturing process is still a few years away, but a Japanese company is already working on a chiplet-based CPU that integrates the Arm Neoverse design. With additional customized chiplets, the new chip can serve different purposes with optimized performance.
Socionext is a Japanese supplier of SoC designs operating in the automotive, data center, network, and smart devices industries. The Yokohama-based company recently announced a new 32-core Arm CPU based on a chiplet design, a technology capable of delivering "scalable performance" in hyperscale data centers and next-gen mobile infrastructures, including 5G and 6G.
The Japanese company mentioned that its advanced proof-of-concept chip uses Arm's Neoverse Compute Subsystems technology, a pre-integrated, pre-validated computing platform designed to simplify customization. The chiplet can provide single or multiple "instantiations" within a single package, along with additional chiplets for IO and application-specific needs.
Socionext will utilize TSMC's 2nm silicon technology, a manufacturing process the Taiwanese foundry plans to finalize by the second half of 2025. When the chiplet arrives on the market, hyperscale customers will have a new option for cost-effective package-level upgrades at their disposal.
Socionext's Arm Neoverse-based chiplet can offer 32, 64, 128, or more computing cores and seamlessly integrate with customers' existing designs. Additionally, this chip is expected to be compatible with other Arm ecosystem chiplets, including application-specific ones designed for generative AI algorithms, high-performance computing, edge computing, and 5G/6G mobile infrastructures.
Socionext also emphasizes how leveraging silicon reusability to create multiple product platforms fosters innovation. System architects can explore new possibilities when designing various platform variants within the same product family. Arm is pleased to be a part of this partnership as the Neoverse CSS platform provides greater accessibility for custom silicon designs.
In transforming designs into actual silicon devices, TSMC plays a crucial role that no technology company can overlook. The Taiwanese foundry is delighted to support Socionext's plans and Arm's flexible chiplet design, offering outstanding performance, especially when combined with the company's upcoming 2nm process. TSMC and Socionext have a long history of collaboration across various generations of cutting-edge chip technology, and the 2nm journey will strengthen this partnership.
https://www.techspot.com/news/100637-socionext-working-tsmc-2nm-arm-chiplet-data-centers.html
