Science Technology

The first chiplet AI chip made in China was unveiled with a 12nm process, which is comparable to 7nm?

At present, the development of silicon-based chips is getting closer to the limit, and it is increasingly difficult to improve the process. For some well-known reasons, it is also very difficult to improve the process after reaching the 14nm process.
Therefore, Chiplet is considered as a direction of curve overtaking. Chiplet refers to the use of advanced packaging technology to package different processes and different types of chips together, which can improve performance without improving the process.
The first chiplet AI chip made in China was unveiled with a 12nm process, which is comparable to 7nm?
For example, a number of 28nm chips packaged together may achieve 10nm performance, while a number of 14nm chips using Chiplet technology may achieve 7nm chips?
Therefore, China has been making efforts to develop the chiplet technology, and wants to achieve 7nm or even 5nm performance with 14nm or 28nm technology. For this reason, it has also launched its own chiplet standard.
Before that, there have been two big packaging giants, and good news has come out. First, Changdian Technology has realized the packaging technology of 4nm chiplet. Later, Tongfu Microelectronics also said that it had chiplet packaging technology.
The first chiplet AI chip made in China was unveiled with a 12nm process, which is comparable to 7nm?
Recently, the first domestic AI chip “Qiming 930” based on chiplet technology was officially unveiled. This chip was developed by the Arctic male chip and adopts the 12nm process, while the central control core uses RISC-V CPU core.
Through the chiplet technology, multiple functional cores can be carried to expand the computing power, so as to provide 8 to 20 TOPS (INT8) dense computing power to adapt to different scenarios, just like building blocks, which can be flexibly combined and configured.
According to the estimates of industry insiders, the chip with the technology of Chiplet has the same computing power as the chip with the technology of 7nm, even though it is a chip with the technology of 12nm.
Compared with the packaging of chiplet, the development of this chip should be more symbolic, which means that we really have a certain strength and foundation in terms of chiplet technology.
Of course, in general, at present, we have only taken the first step in the field of chiplet technology. Next, chiplet technology faces challenges from many aspects. Efforts need to be made in design, manufacturing, packaging and other aspects, but in the application level, it needs to be strengthened even more. After all, after any chip is manufactured, the focus is on use, and the chip that only stays in the laboratory is worthless.
So next, let’s cheer up domestic manufacturers. If we want to make domestic chiplets really work, sell and generate value, that’s the real success.