Huawei reportedly developing new Kunpeng chip with HBM tech

Huawei is reportedly developing a new Kunpeng CPU chip integrated with the HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) technology. As per a new report, the Chinese OEM is preparing a new ARM-based Kunpeng CPU with better performance and efficiency.

According to Phoronix, Huawei engineers are working on a new Kunpeng CPU chip with HBM technology. It would be a major release by HiSilicon after a long while.

Kunpeng is a special line of products that covers processors, motherboards, and software. It mainly counts the key internal components of cloud computing.

The Kunpeng line currently has Kunpeng 920 chipset. It has been launched in 2019 as the industry’s leading-edge ARM-based server CPU. It is a 7nm chip and holds 64 cores based on Armv8.2. The SoC supports 8 DDR4 channels and 180W max power.

Now Huawei seemingly thinks to upgrade this CPU with a new one.

Huawei used to make Kunpeng SoCs via TSMC nodes. However, the US ban restricted the export of chip materials and equipment. As a result, the tech giant halted the development of these processors. But it seems, the OEM is coming back on track.

Some new Linux patches from Huawei engineers show that the company is working on a new Kunpeng chip with HBM technology. The tech giant has not announced the processor yet. But a few details hint that the new SoC is in the making.

The HBM tech is integrated into the Linux kernel. HiSilicon may further upgrade the Taishan architecture for the new chipset with better cores and improved connectivity. On the flip side, it may continue to use the 7nm SMIC process and Arm ISA.

Here’s a para regarding the new Kunpeng SoC:

“Add power control support for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) for the Kunpeng SoC platform. HBM devices on Kunpeng SoC can provide higher bandwidth at the cost of higher power consumption. Providing power control methods can help reduce the power when the workload does not need us HBM.”

The SoC is in development and will likely compete with Intel Xeon and AMD EPYC AArch64 server processors in the market in the time ahead.

Huawei reportedly developing new Kunpeng chip with HBM tech (Image Credits: HiSilicon Kunpeng)

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