SiFive has announced the release of the latest version of its SiFive Intelligence X280 processor, which introduces significant new features, including scalability up to a 16-core coherent cache complex, WorldGuard trust protection, and a new interface enabling Seamless integration between the X280 Vector Unit and external customer-designed AI accelerators or other coprocessors, called VCIX (Vector Coprocessor Interface eXtension).
SiFive is the founder and leader of RISC-V computing. He claimed in a press release that this latest version of the X280 is a powerful solution for those looking for alternatives to legacy SIMD-style architectures.
Available to the public since April 2021, the SiFive Intelligence X280 has seen rapid adoption as customers turn to its unique combination of performance, power efficiency and an intuitive programming model. The X280 has achieved double-digit design gains in the last six months alone, in a wide variety of data-driven applications, including AI inference, image processing, data center acceleration data and automotive use cases, according to the press release.
Chris Jones, vice president of product at SiFive, said market feedback on the X280 was incredible. “The product matches the needs of modern workload and vector processing extremely well and was introduced at the right time to accelerate RISC-V’s already considerable momentum,” Jones said. “The new X280 enhancements are a direct result of listening and collaborating with customers and are already designed in multiple sockets around the world. Additionally, the software ecosystem around the RISC-V vector extension is experiencing exponential growth, ensuring broad support for customers and driving the inevitable broad industry adoption of RISC-V.”
The X280 SiFive Intelligence X280 is a multi-core, multi-cluster RISC-V processor with full support for the RISC-V vector extension standard and SiFive Intelligence extensions and is optimized for AI/ML computing at the edge.
The X280 is also ideal for applications requiring high throughput, single-threaded performance while being power constrained (e.g. AR, VR, sensor hubs, IVI systems, IP cameras, digital cameras and gaming devices).
Several unique and important new features of SiFive include:
Multicluster: SiFive relied on a multi-cluster RISC-V solution in the X280, which offers up to 4 complex 4-core clusters and scaling to multi-TOP performance.
VCIX (Vector Coprocessor Interface Extension): This innovative vector coprocessor accelerator interface enables seamless integration with customers’ AI architectures, including a large and growing number of third-party accelerators, enabling easily programmed, low-latency data movement between the host processor and customer-owned AI accelerator solutions.
WorldGuard Ready: SiFive’s implementation of the WorldGuard open standard security solution brings a reliable runtime environment to high-core-count platforms to protect AI/ML algorithms from malicious attacks and provides an alternative to legacy security solutions .
Collectively, these enhanced features deliver unparalleled scalability, security, and interoperability to the SiFive X280, the widely adopted implementation of the RISC-V Vector extension, according to SiFive.
Comments are closed.