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.
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(Score: 4, Insightful) by coolgopher on Friday July 12 2019, @04:17AM (4 children)
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)
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)
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. I'm too old to act my age. Life is too important to take myself seriously.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by coolgopher on Friday July 12 2019, @07:37AM
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
Intel tried to shut up the security researchers of Zombieload with money. Happily they didn't fell for the underhanded trick.