SiFive, a leading RISC-V processor design firm, recently introduced two innovative chip designs aimed at revolutionizing high-performance computing across different industries. These new chips, known as the SiFive Performance P870 and SiFive Intelligence X390, were unveiled at a press and analyst event in Santa Clara, California. SiFive designs chips based on the open RISC-V architecture, which offers significant competition to architectures from industry giants like Arm and Intel. The SiFive Performance P870 and SiFive Intelligence X390 provide low power consumption, compute density, and excellent vector compute capability, making them ideal for data-intensive computing applications in consumer electronics, automotive technology, and infrastructure sectors.
SiFive executives emphasized the company’s commitment to driving high-performance RISC-V innovation and bridging the gap with other instruction set architectures in the market. The RISC-V ecosystem has been rapidly expanding due to the growing demand for semiconductors in sectors such as consumer electronics and infrastructure. SiFive CEO Patrick Little stated, “The flexibility of SiFive’s RISC-V solutions allows companies to address the unique computing requirements of these segments and capitalize on the momentum around generative AI, where we have seen double-digit design wins, and for other cutting-edge applications.”
The SiFive Performance P870 is specifically designed for high-performance consumer applications and can also be utilized alongside a vector processor in data centers. This chip sets a new standard for RISC-V performance by offering enhanced instruction set architecture availability, throughput, parallelism, and memory bandwidth. Compared to previous SiFive Performance processors, the P870 boasts a 50% peak single-thread performance upgrade and features a six-wide out-of-order core and a shared cluster cache that enables up to a 32-core cluster.
The SiFive Intelligence X390 builds upon the success of its predecessor, the SiFive Intelligence X280, by combining AI and ML applications with hardware accelerators for mobile, infrastructure, and automotive applications. The X390 offers a four-fold improvement in vector computation with its single-core configuration, doubled vector length, and dual vector ALUs, resulting in quadruple the amount of sustained data bandwidth. The SiFive Vector Coprocessor Interface eXtension (VCIX) allows companies to customize the chip with their own vector instructions and acceleration hardware.
SiFive’s combined solution of the P870 and X390, along with a high-performance NPU cluster, provides product designers with an agile and programmable solution for generative AI applications. This solution offers superior compute density, low power consumption, and exceptional flexibility for complex workloads. SiFive has received strong interest from customers regarding these combined solutions, with several companies already achieving success in silicon development and commercialization using high-performance SiFive products.
SiFive is among the pioneers of the RISC-V architecture and is committed to transforming the future of computing by harnessing the limitless potential of RISC-V for high-performance and data-intensive applications. The company has raised significant funding, attracting hundreds of millions of dollars, and currently employs over 500 professionals in multiple locations. SiFive has amassed 350 design wins and boasts an impressive customer base that includes Intel, Amazon, Qualcomm, Samsung, Google, and NASA.
SiFive recognizes Arm as its main competitor in the processor design industry. Notably, every one of Arm’s top customers is also a top customer of SiFive, especially in the mobile sector. SiFive’s chips offer 30% to 40% better power efficiency and compute density than Arm, positioning the company as a strong contender in the market. However, SiFive acknowledges that competing with Arm is a long-term battle, as Arm has been an established player for decades and recently went public at a valuation of $54.5 billion.
Krste Asanovic, the founder of SiFive, believes that AI and general-purpose computing are shifting towards RISC-V due to the need for agile hardware to support AI-based security components and other emerging applications. SiFive differentiates itself by providing complete solutions around its core chips, eliminating the need to duct-tape different systems together. Asanovic stated, “We don’t have these different systems that we duct-tape together. We are a very broad portfolio and within that broad portfolio, we provide all the pieces.”
SiFive anticipates that customers involved in new categories of computing are more likely to choose RISC-V over Arm, as long as they are not locked into Arm’s ecosystem. While Arm aims to penetrate the core of processors in data centers to compete with Intel and Advanced Micro Devices, SiFive recognizes that RISC-V is not yet at that level due to the significant software lift required to enable it. Nonetheless, SiFive is making headway in various U.S. government procurements and is well-poised to benefit from the growing demand for its products, particularly in China and the automotive sector.
SiFive’s introduction of the SiFive Performance P870 and SiFive Intelligence X390 marks a significant development in the RISC-V processor market. These high-performance chip designs offer unparalleled power efficiency, compute density, and flexibility for complex workloads. With SiFive’s continued dedication to driving RISC-V innovation and the rapid expansion of the RISC-V ecosystem, the future of computing looks promising. As SiFive collaborates with partners across the industry, product designers can commercialize their SiFive-powered products and take advantage of the numerous benefits offered by SiFive’s open standard RISC-V ecosystem.
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