Chiplet innovation isn’t waiting for perfect standards
Across markets such as AI, high-performance computing (HPC), and automotive, the demand for computational power continues to accelerate. This demand spans everything from compact edge devices to massive data center servers. Traditionally, that capacity was delivered by monolithic systems-on-chip (SoCs) implemented on a single silicon die. While manufacturing trade-offs can ease some pressures, a large die still limits optimization, forcing designers to balance power and performance across the entire chip rather than fine-tuning each function individually.
The problem is structural. Monolithic SoCs have reached physical and economic limits. As shown in Figure 1, reticle size is fixed, yields decline as die size grows, and the cost of large devices is prohibitively high.
Figure 1 Multi-die architectures are emerging as monolithic scaling reaches its limits. Source: Arteris Inc.
Multi-die systems offer a practical path forward. By breaking a large SoC into smaller chips, teams gain better yields, leverage proven components, and combine diverse process technologies in a single package. Additionally, chiplets can be reused across product lines, improving scalability and reducing cost.
The semiconductor industry has long envisioned chiplets as modular and interoperable, backed by fully proven standards. Companies are not waiting for that vision to materialize fully. They are already moving ahead with chiplet adoption while standards remain in flux.
Why chiplets, and why now?
Until recently, the world’s largest semiconductor companies were the predominant users of chiplet technology. These companies could control every aspect of the design, integration, and packaging processes.
Mid-size and startup companies also long for this future to be realized. However, lacking the resources of industry giants, they must adapt and take incremental steps today, even as the whole framework evolves.
Disaggregating a monolithic design into chiplets offers multiple advantages. By mounting these components on a common silicon substrate, the resulting multi-die systems can be manufactured at the most appropriate technology node.
For example, memory at 28 nm, a high-performance processor at 7 nm, and a cutting-edge CPU at 2 nm. Combining all dies into a single package creates a multi-die system that outperforms a monolithic design.
Standards: Ideal vs. actual
One of the issues is that the standards needed to make chiplets broadly interchangeable are not yet fully baked. They still need to be implemented, validated, and tested across different pieces of silicon before designers can count on them.
Even when two companies follow the exact specification, small details such as sideband signals or initialization steps can differ enough to cause unexpected failures. Until compatibility is proven at scale, design teams need to remain pragmatic in their approach to developing multi-die systems.
The ideal case is often described as chiplets that fit together like Lego bricks, highlighting the requirement that they are straightforward to combine and verified so that they work reliably together. Achieving that vision will ultimately depend on widely adopted industry standards that enable dies from different sources to function as one system.
Initiatives such as AMBA CHI Chip-to-Chip (C2C), Bunch of Wires (BoW), and Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express (UCIe) are helping to define the physical and protocol layers for die-to-die (D2D) links. Yet many challenges remain in areas such as system-level verification, latency optimization, power efficiency, security, and ensuring that chiplets from different vendors perform cohesively, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2 Multi-die SoC adoption is expanding across multiple markets. Source: Arteris Inc.
Companies can turn to multi-die systems
Progress can’t be delayed until standards are finalized, so design teams are advancing with innovation. Some of the ways system architects are tackling multi-die design are as follows:
- Design for modularity: Partition compute, memory, and IO into reusable blocks. Utilize silicon-proven network-on-chip (NoC) interconnect IP that supports multiple device-to-device (D2D) protocols and topologies.
- Build with interoperability in mind: Utilize tools and IP that are co-validated with major electronic design automation (EDA), physical layer (PHY), and foundry partners to align chiplet workflows and ensure IP, tool, and foundry compatibility.
- Automate integration: Hand-stitching chiplets together is a time-consuming and error-prone nightmare. Employ tools that automate HW/SW interface definition and assembly, which is essential for fast iteration and derivative design creation.
- Use coherency only where it matters: Certain functions, such as CPU and GPU clusters, may require coherent chiplets and D2D interfaces that necessitate the use of a coherent NoC. By comparison, functions like AI/ML accelerators may be satisfied by non-coherent chiplets and D2D interfaces. These are simpler and more power-efficient and can be addressed with a non-coherent NoC.
- Reuse what works: Adopt chiplet templates that can scale across product families and incorporate proven monolithic dies alongside new multi-die IP in derivative designs.
- Accept that the ecosystem is co-evolving: Standards are years away from full maturity. And companies are just beginning to explore building modular, standard-aware designs, laying the groundwork for the ecosystem’s future.
Build now, don’t wait
Multi-die system development teams should adopt modular design principles, utilize proven IP blocks with flexible D2D support, implement automated integration tools, and embrace ecosystem-aware development flows. Designers should also collaborate with like-minded innovators, partners, and customers to deliver tomorrow’s complex systems today.
Chiplets design solutions show how multi-die architectures can be built and deployed now. They enable companies to address today’s performance and scalability needs while laying the groundwork for seamless interoperability in the future.
Andy Nightingale, VP of Product Management and Marketing at Arteris, has over 39 years of experience in the high-tech industry, including 23 years in various engineering and product management roles at Arm.
Special Section: Chiplets Design
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