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posted by martyb on Friday July 12 2019, @12:15AM   Printer-friendly
from the Have-come-a-long-ways-from-the-4004 dept.

Intel will be using a few packaging technologies to connect CPU core "chiplets":

Intel revealed three new packaging technologies at SEMICON West: Co-EMIB, Omni-Directional Interconnect (ODI) and Multi-Die I/O (MDIO). These new technologies enable massive designs by stitching together multiple dies into one processor. Building upon Intel's 2.5D EMIB and 3D Foveros tech, the technologies aim to bring near-monolithic power and performance to heterogeneous packages. For the data-center, that could enable a platform scope that far exceeds the die-size limits of single dies.

[...] Compared to interposers, which can be reticle-sized (832mm2) or even larger, [EMIB (Embedded Multi-die Interconnect Bridge)] is just a small (hence, cheap) piece of silicon. It provides the same bandwidth and energy-per-bit advantages of an interposer compared to standard package traces, which are traditionally used for multi-chip packages (MCPs), such as AMD's Infinity Fabric. (To some extent, because the PCH is a separate die, chiplets have actually been around for a very long time.)

[...] Intel showed off a concept product that contains four Foveros stacks, with each stack having eight small compute chiplets that are connected via TSVs to the base die. (So the role of Foveros there is to connect the chiplets as if it were a monolithic die.) Each Foveros stack is then interconnected via two (Co-)EMIB links with its two adjacent Foveros stacks. Co-EMIB is further used to connect the HBM and transceivers to the compute stacks.

Evidently, the cost of such a product would be enormous, as it essentially contains multiple traditional monolithic-class products in a single package. That's likely why Intel categorized it as a data-centric concept product, aimed mainly at the cloud players that are more than happy to absorb those costs in exchange for the extra performance.

[...] When they are ready, these technologies will provide Intel with powerful capabilities for the heterogeneous and data-centric era. On the client side, the benefits of advanced packaging include smaller package size and lower power consumption (for Lakefield, Intel claims a 10x SoC standby power improvement at 2.6mW). In the data center, advanced packaging will help to build very large and powerful platforms on a single package, with performance, latency, and power characteristics close to what a monolithic die would yield. The yield advantage of small chiplets and the establishment of chipset ecosystem are major drivers, too.

Also at The Register, VentureBeat, Guru3D, and PCWorld.

Related: Intel Core i7-8809G with Radeon Graphics and High Bandwidth Memory: Details Leaked
Intel Announces "Sunny Cove", Gen11 Graphics, Discrete Graphics Brand Name, 3D Packaging, and More
Intel Promises "10nm" Chips by the End of 2019, and More
Intel Details Lakefield CPU SoC With 3D Packaging and Big/Small Core Configuration
Intel's Jim Keller Promises That "Moore's Law" is Not Dead, Outlines 50x Improvement Plan


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 12 2019, @12:57AM (8 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 12 2019, @12:57AM (#866053)

    Honestly I do not care or get excited about anything Intel reveals is at this point. When is the last time they followed through on anything they promised? Let me know when they actually release it (and I mean a real release, not a paper one).

    • (Score: 5, Touché) by takyon on Friday July 12 2019, @01:38AM (1 child)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Friday July 12 2019, @01:38AM (#866062) Journal

      While it's hard to believe Intel, I do believe they have the resources to copy what AMD is doing, at least.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 12 2019, @03:17AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 12 2019, @03:17AM (#866099)

        They can throw all the money in the world at eg alzheimers research... but if its all based on the idea it is due to beta-amyloid toxicity they will never make progress. I think something similar is going on at intel.

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by coolgopher on Friday July 12 2019, @04:17AM (4 children)

      by coolgopher (1157) on Friday July 12 2019, @04:17AM (#866108)

      I'd get excited if they finally addressed all the security vulnerabilities, of which there seem to be more and more unearthed [techcrunch.com] all the time.

      • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 12 2019, @04:54AM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 12 2019, @04:54AM (#866114)

        May we not simply conclude that computers are impossible to secure, even from a hardware perspective? AMD and ARM also had hardware vulnerabilities.

        • (Score: 5, Insightful) by martyb on Friday July 12 2019, @07:04AM (1 child)

          by martyb (76) Subscriber Badge on Friday July 12 2019, @07:04AM (#866139) Journal

          May we not simply conclude that computers are impossible to secure, even from a hardware perspective? AMD and ARM also had hardware vulnerabilities.

          Alice has stage 4 cancer which has metastacized and invaded several different organs. But, you point out, Bob has come down with a bad cold every few years.

          Both have taken ill (have vulnerabilities), but given a choice, I'd rather be Bob (AMD, ARM) than Alice (Intel).

          --
          Wit is intellect, dancing.
          • (Score: 5, Interesting) by coolgopher on Friday July 12 2019, @07:37AM

            by coolgopher (1157) on Friday July 12 2019, @07:37AM (#866151)

            Indeed. There was a world of difference in the responses from Intel compared to AMD and ARM. Intel gave us marketing BS. The other two went more or less "well damn... that's not good. let us fix that asap!". And from what I have seen, they did. Intel kept spouting marketing BS. Still is. OMGZORZ-LOOK-AT-THIS-I-OVER-9000-PROCESSOR-ISN'T-IT-SHINY-YOU-NEED-TO-BUY-IT-IT-IS-SO-EXCLUSIVE-YOU-MUST-HAVE-IT-NAOW!

      • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 12 2019, @07:11AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 12 2019, @07:11AM (#866142)

        Intel tried to shut up the security researchers of Zombieload with money. Happily they didn't fell for the underhanded trick.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 12 2019, @05:03PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 12 2019, @05:03PM (#866311)

      That is tech that Apple and Motorola saw and formed 68000 series processor.

      IBM 4300 of 70's with super-"chips". 4"x4" with water cooled jackets. Inside up to 100 bare chips on a multi-layer (40+) backing to route the inner connects. Plus the software to auto-design those routes.

  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 12 2019, @10:28AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 12 2019, @10:28AM (#866183)
  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday July 12 2019, @02:52PM (1 child)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Friday July 12 2019, @02:52PM (#866246) Journal

    When can we have the entire motherboard be one large chip package with multiple dies?

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by martyb on Saturday July 13 2019, @06:06AM

      by martyb (76) Subscriber Badge on Saturday July 13 2019, @06:06AM (#866509) Journal

      When can we have the entire motherboard be one large chip package with multiple dies?

      That would be the S100BfC: The S100 Bus for Chips!

      What's old is new again, or... there's nothing new under the sun.

      There is also this old chestnut: "A supercomputer is a device that that converts a CPU-bound problem into an IO-bound problem."

      =)

      --
      Wit is intellect, dancing.
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