Subj : 'The socket is becoming the motherboard'  how a Samsung-backed st
To   : All
From : TechnologyDaily
Date : Mon Apr 22 2024 18:45:06

'The socket is becoming the motherboard'  how a Samsung-backed startup wants 
to change computing forever by integrating everything in an elegant packaging 
to tackle the AI beast once and for all

Date:
Mon, 22 Apr 2024 17:41:55 +0000

Description:
Samsung-backed Eliyan's NuLink PHY could do away with silicon interposers, 
resulting in a 10x AI performance boost.

FULL STORY
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Many system designers are exploring chiplet-based SiPs that move beyond the 
limitations and costs of huge single-die implementations, but which depend 
heavily on silicon interposers as substrates for mounting and interconnecting 
the dies. 

Silicon interposers deliver a higher data rate than organic substrates, but 
are not without drawbacks. They are costly, proprietary and limit the number 
of chiplets that can be placed on one substrate due to size restrictions, 
while increasing TCO. 

Many CPUs are multi-die assemblies which make use of organic substrates 
(implemented using chiplet interconnect standards like UCIe and the Open 
Compute Projects Bunch of Wires (BoW)), but they cant compete 
performance-wise with silicon interposers. Build a better Blackwell 

Now, Eliyan has come up with what it believes is a viable solution that 
offers the performance advantages of silicon interposers but without their 
limitations. The solution to this dilemma, the firm says, is to look at the 
dies themselves - "at the tiny electronic circuits that drive the 
interconnect lines. Most of todays chiplet interconnect standards use a 
physical-layer (PHY) IP block, but Eliyans NuLink PHY reportedly reaches the 
same maximum performance levels on organic substrates that alternative PHYs 
can only achieve on silicon interposers. 

The company says NuLink PHY, enables systems with higher performance (more 
memory) and lower TCO (no interposer), with results that deliver up to 4x the 
bandwidth, 4x the power efficiency, up to 4x the SiP size and up to 10x the 
AI performance. 

Eliyans Co-founder and chief executive officer Ramin Farjadrad recently 
talked to The Next Platform about how NuLink PHY can be used to build better, 
cheaper, and more powerful compute engines than can be done with current 
packaging techniques based on silicon interposers. 

The article, titled  How To Build A Better Blackwell GPU Than Nvidia Did , 
explains how its technology could be used to significantly improve on Nvidias 
superchip design. 

Its a fascinating read, and hints at what could be possible in the future. As 
The Next Platform s Timothy Prickett Morgan sums up,  Any memory, any 
co-packaged optics, any PCI-Express or other controller, can be linked using 
NuLink to any XPU. At this point, the socket really has become the 
motherboard. 

Theres certainly a lot of interest in Eliyans NuLink PHY. The company 
recently closed a $60 Million Series B funding round, co-led by Samsung 
Catalyst Fund and Tiger Global Management. This investment reflects the 
confidence in our approach to integrating multi-chip architectures that 
address the critical challenges of high costs, low yield, power consumption, 
manufacturing complexity, and size limitations, Farjadrad said, following the 
funding announcement. More from TechRadar Pro Scientists inch closer to holy 
grail of memory breakthrough Intel piles pressure on Nvidia with launch of 
new AI accelerator This is what a single 256GB DDR5 memory module looks like



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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/the-socket-is-becoming-the-motherboard-how-a-sam
sung-backed-startup-wants-to-change-computing-forever-by-integrating-everythin
g-in-an-elegant-packaging-to-tackle-the-ai-beast-once-and-for-all


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