Talk about three important forces in the field of chips

As we all know, the world-renowned Internet companies, such as the Amazon AWS service, Microsoft cloud services, and domestic companies represented by BAT, all use x86 architecture processors. Especially in the Internet industry, x86 processors have obvious advantages and their expansion. Stronger ability and higher cost performance are the first choice for many companies.

And it is worth noting that, with the rapid development of cloud computing, its landing trend is more rapid, many cloud data centers have adopted x86 processors, it is estimated that in the next year, Intel will produce more than half of the chips will be sold to the big cloud service provider. The biggest characteristic of cloud computing providers is the pursuit of customization, so it can be expected that Intel’s customization strategy will continue to develop in 2015. Intel can integrate the needs of its customers into the standard version of its processor and introduce products with corresponding features for different areas of demand.

At present, many chip manufacturers around the world are designing and customizing the custom-built processors required by their production customers. In many aspects, such as custom IO configuration, customized processors for special jobs, according to Intel, there are currently more than 10 customers wishing Can produce fully customizable high-performance, low-power x86 processors.

When it comes to customization, we have to say AMD, because AMD has a clear strategy for customization, and in ARM chips, AMD is actually walking in front of Intel.

Although AMD's architecture based on the ARM architecture has not yet officially listed, its planning for the future has already begun to take shape. On May 5, 2014, AMD released its roadmap for the near-term and mid-term computing solutions. According to AMD's explanation, these solutions will simultaneously exploit the features of the x86 and ARM ecosystems, which AMD calls a dual-architecture roadmap.

Specifically, AMD's dual-architecture roadmap includes the SkyBridge project and the K12 architecture. Among them, the SkyBridge project design framework will be launched in 2015, including a new 20nm process APU and supporting system chips (compatible with ARM and x86 processors), and a 64-bit ARM processor with an ARM Cortex A57 low voltage core. This will be AMD's first heterogeneous system architecture (HSA) platform for Android. It is reported that the SkyBridge project will complete the integration of system chips, AMD next-generation graphics architecture (GCN) technology, HSA and AMD dedicated platform security processor (PSP).

In the ARM section, AMD will release the first customized 64-bit ARM v8 processor, codenamed K12. The K12's ARM-based, high-performance, low-power core leverages AMD's ARM architecture licensing, multifaceted 64-bit design expertise, and a core development team led by semiconductor architect Jim Keller. The first products based on the K12 core plan will be launched in 2016.

AMD’s war in the traditional PC market and Intel has continued for many years. The rise of mobile terminals and the decline of the PC market have caused AMD to seek transformation. AMD said that in the future, 50% of its business will come from consumer businesses, while the other 50% will come from high-growth market businesses, which include embedded, high-density servers and semi-customized products.

So looking ahead to 2015, the customization of the chip will be an important direction. Diane Bryant, Intel’s vice president and general manager of the data center group, said that according to the new plan, Intel will provide other customized services related to Xeon’s product lines, including special processors based on customers’ own designs. . For example, integrating two kinds of chip services (including field programmable gate array FPGAs) allows customers to quickly adapt to the functions of the chip. At the same time, the server is still able to update these programming instructions without installing new hardware. The integration of the FPGA and the server's central processor will result in a double speed increase, and some customers are currently testing this integrated chip product.

Intel controls the vast majority of server chip industry shipments. It is important to point out that online companies including Google and Facebook have already announced that they will try new chip technologies, including new chip technologies from companies such as IBM and ARM. After IBM sold the x86 business to Lenovo Group, it vigorously developed the POWER architecture. At present, the POWER ecosystem is rapidly growing. One of the important reasons is that POWER is customizable.

The Coherence Attachment Processor Interface (CAPI) is a bright spot of the POWER8 chip. Its interface support is extensive, so that the components can work with the processor. CAPI helps connect third-party manufacturers' hardware, such as image image cards, storage devices, and customized chips for customer calls, such as FPEA (Programmable Gate Array) cards, ASIC cards, and so on. ACPI also makes it easier for server vendors to supply POWER systems, similar to current white-box servers.

The CAPI interface is located above the PCIe bus and is necessary for the chip. Otherwise, if the FPEA card has no way to connect to the PCI slot. In the traditional way, FPEA directly connects with the POWER system bus. CAPI can provide the high bandwidth that the chip needs. CAPI also supports high-speed parallel processing, allowing third-party components to take full advantage of POWER8's processing power to make task execution faster.

Summary: Looking ahead to 2015, ARM architecture, x86 architecture, and IBM's POWER architecture will form the three major strengths of the chip market. The low power consumption of the ARM architecture and its dominance in the mobile terminal market make ARM's imagination in the enterprise market very large. IBM is also opening its own POWER architecture, which makes the processor architecture more competitive. Intel is also working hard to make the x86 architecture more flexible. We can foresee that the future competition of the three architectures of x86, ARM, and POWER architectures in the enterprise market will be very exciting.