Achronix Semiconductor Corporation introduced an innovative, new FPGA family, to meet the growing demands of artificial intelligence/ machine learning (AI/ML) and high-bandwidth data acceleration applications. The Achronix Speedster 7t family – based on a new, highly optimized architecture – goes beyond traditional FPGA solutions featuring ASIC-like performance, FPGA adaptability and enhanced functionality to streamline design.
Specifically designed for AI/ML and high-bandwidth workloads, the Speedster7t FPGA family features a revolutionary new 2D network-on-chip (NoC), and a high-density array of new machine learning processors (MLP). Blending FPGA programmability with ASIC routing structures and compute engines, the Speedster7t family creates a new “FPGA+” class of technology.
In developing the Speedster7t family of FPGAs, Achronix’s engineering team redesigned the entire FPGA architecture to balance on-chip processing, interconnect and external I/O, to maximize the throughput of data-intensive workloads such as those found in edge- and server-based AI/ML applications, networking and storage.
Manufactured on TSMC’s 7nm FinFET process, Speedster7t devices are designed to accept massive amounts of data from multiple high-speed sources, distribute that data to programmable on-chip algorithmic and processing units, and then deliver those results with the lowest possible latency. Speedster7t devices include high-bandwidth GDDR6 interfaces, 400G Ethernet ports, and PCI Express Gen5 — all interconnected to deliver ASIC-level bandwidth while retaining the full programmability of FPGAs.
At the heart of Speedster7t FPGAs are a massively parallel array of programmable compute elements within the new MLPs that deliver the industry’s highest FPGA-based compute density. The MLPs are highly configurable, compute-intensive blocks that support integer formats from 4 to 24 bits and efficient floating-point modes including direct support for TensorFlow’s 16-bit format as well as the supercharged block floating-point format that doubles the compute engines per MLP.
The MLPs are tightly coupled with embedded memory blocks, eliminating the traditional delays associated with FPGA routing to ensure that data is delivered to the MLPs at the maximum performance of 750 MHz. This combination of high-density compute and high-performance data delivery results in a processor fabric that delivers the highest usable FPGA-based tera-operations per second (TOps).
Critical for high-performance compute and machine learning systems is high off-chip memory bandwidth to source and buffer multiple data streams. Speedster7t devices are the only FPGAs with support for GDDR6 memories, the highest bandwidth external memory devices. With each of the GDDR6 memory controllers capable of supporting 512 Gbps of bandwidth, the up to 8 GDDR6 controllers in a Speedster7t device can support an aggregate GDDR6 bandwidth of 4 Tbps, delivering the equivalent memory bandwidth of an HBM-based FPGA at a fraction of the cost.
Speedster7t devices include the industry’s highest performance interface ports to support extremely high-bandwidth data streams. Speedster7t devices have up to 72 of the industry’s highest performance SerDes that can operate from 1 to 112 Gbps plus hard 400G Ethernet MACs with forward error correction (FEC), supporting 4x 100G and 8x 50G configurations, plus hard PCI Express Gen5 controllers with 8 or 16 lanes per controller.
The Speedster7t FPGA devices range from 363K to 2.6M 6-input LUTs. The ACE design tools that support all of Achronix’s products including Speedcore eFPGA and Speedchip FPGA chiplets are available today.
The first devices and development boards for evaluation will be available in Q4 2019.
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