AMD’s latest patent filing has shown that the company is gearing up to integrate "multi-chip stacking" technology into its future Ryzen SoCs, opening the door for enhanced die scalability.
AMD’s Potential New Approach to Chip Stacking
AMD is known for its relentless push to innovate in the consumer CPU space, being the first out of the gate with its "3D V-Cache" technology featured in the "X3D" series. This time, a new patent (highlighted by @coreteks) suggests that AMD is planning to revolutionize the chip stacking process with a fresh packaging concept that could significantly cut down on interconnect delays and substantially boost performance.
The patent reveals AMD’s strategy to arrange smaller chiplets partially beneath a larger die. This overlapping design makes the most of the available space, allowing for more chiplets and thereby more functions on a single die. As a result, AMD can enhance its processors with more cores, larger caches, and increased memory bandwidth, all within the same die dimensions. This is a significant step up in performance potential.
A post on Twitter by @coreteks illustrates the idea with a sketch showing the larger die stacked over the smaller ones. By overlapping the chiplets, AMD could reduce the distance data needs to travel between components, thereby speeding up communications and lowering latency. Furthermore, this configuration also benefits power management, as the distinct chiplets allow for precise control over each unit.
AMD’s pioneering "multi-chiplet" design is not limited to CPUs; it’s being explored for GPUs too. We’ve previously discussed how AMD is investigating "multi-chiplet" configurations for graphics processors, moving away from traditional monolithic designs to embrace the benefits of multiple chiplets. If AMD decides to apply this strategy to its mainstream Ryzen SoCs in a manner similar to its "X3D" CPUs, it could be a game-changer—but we’ll have to wait and see.
To stay competitive, especially with Intel ramping up its efforts, AMD must continue to innovate in the CPU sector. By embracing "multi-chiplet" designs, AMD is poised to gain a significant edge in CPU design and functionality, keeping Team Red at the forefront of technological advancement in the industry.
