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NVIDIA's GPU IP Drives into MediaTek's Dimension Auto SoCs

21 mars 2024 à 21:00

MediaTek this week has introduced a new lineup of Dimensity Auto Cockpit system-on-chips, covering the entire market spectrum from entry-level to premium. And while automotive chip announcements are admittedly not normally the most interesting of things, this one is going to be an exception to that rule because of whose graphics IP MediaTek is tapping for the chips: NVIDIA's. This means the upcoming Dimensity Auto Cockpit chips will be the first chips to be released by a third-party (non-NVIDIA) vendor to be based around NVIDIA's GeForce graphics technology.

NVIDIA's first attempt to license its GPU IP to third parties dates back to the year 2013, when the company proposed to license its Kepler GPU IP and thus rival Arm and Imagination Technologies. An effort that, at the time, landed flat on its face. But over a decade later and a fresh effort at hand to license out some of NVIDIA's IP, and it seems NVIDIA has finally succeeded. Altogether, MediaTek's new Dimensity Auto Cockpit system-on-chips will rely on NVIDIA's GPU IP, Drive OS, and CUDA, setting a historical development for both companies.

MediaTek's family of next-generation Dimensity Auto Cockpit processors consists of four distinct system-on-chip, including CX-1 for range-topping vehicles, CY-1, CM-1, and CV-1 for entry-level cars. These are highly-integrated SoCs packing Armv9-A-based general-purpose CPU cores as well as NVIDIA's next-generation graphics processing unit IP. NVIDIA's GPU IP can run AI workloads for driver assistance as well as power infotainment system, as it fully supports such graphics technologies like real-time ray-tracing and DLSS 3 image upscaling.

The Dimensity Auto Cockpit processors are monolithic SoCs with built-in multi-camera HDR ISP, according to HardwareLuxx. This ISP supports front-facing, in-cabin, and bird's-eye-view cameras for a variety of safety applications. Additionally, these processors feature an audio DSP that supports various voice assistants.

The announcement from MediaTek does not disclose which generation of NVIDIA's graphics IP they're adopting – only that it's a "next-gen" design. Given the certification requirements involved, automotive SoC announcements tend to be rather conservative, so it remains to be seen just how "next gen" this graphics IP will actually be compared to the current generation Ada Lovelace architecture.

The new MediaTek SoCs will be fully supported by NVIDIA's Drive OS, which is widely used by automakers already. This will allow automakers to unify their software stack and use the same set of software for all of their cars powered by MediaTek's Dimensity. Furthermore, since NVIDIA's Drive OS fully supports CUDA, TensorRT, and Nsight, MediaTek's Dimensity SoCs will be able to take advantage of AI applications developed for the green company's platform.

“Generative AI is transforming the automotive industry in the same way that it has revolutionized the mobile market with more personalized and intuitive computing experiences,” said Jerry Yu, Corporate Senior Vice President and General Manager of MediaTek’s CCM Business Group. “The Dimensity Auto Cockpit portfolio will unleash a new wave of AI-powered entertainment in vehicles, and our unified hardware and software platform makes it easy for automakers to scale AI capabilities across their entire lineup.”

Without a doubt, licensing graphics IP and platform IP to a third party marks a milestone for NVIDIA in general, as well as its automotive efforts in particular. Leveraging DriveOS and CUDA beyond NVIDIA's own hardware platform is a big deal for a business unit that NVIDIA has long considered poised for significant growth, but has faced stiff competition and a slow adoption rate thanks to conservative automakers. Meanwhile, what remains to be seen is how MediaTek's new Dimensity Auto Cockpit processors will stack up against NVIDIA's own previously announced Thor SoC and associated DRIVE Thor platform, which integrates a Blackwell-based GPU delivering 800 TFLOPS of 8-bit floating point AI performance.

Arm Announces Neoverse V3 and N3 CPU Cores: Building Bigger and Moving Faster with CSS

21 février 2024 à 15:00

A bit over 5 years ago, Arm announced their Neoverse initiative for server, cloud, and infrastructure CPU cores. Doubling-down on their efforts to break into the infrastructure CPU market in a big way, the company set about an ambitious multi-year plan to develop what would become a trio of CPU core lineups to address different segments of the market – ranging  from the powerful V series to the petite E series core. And while things have gone a little differently than Arm initially projected, they’re hardly in a position to complain, as the Neoverse line of CPU cores has never been as successful as it is now. Custom CPU designs based on Neoverse cores are all the rage with cloud providers, and the broader infrastructure market has seen its own surge.

Now, as the company and its customers turn towards 2024 and a compute market that is in the throes of another transformative change due to insatiable demand for AI hardware, Arm is preparing to release its next generation of Neoverse CPU core designs to its customers. And in the process, the company is reaching the culmination of the original Neoverse roadmap.

This morning the company is taking the wraps off of the V3 CPU architecture (codename Poseidon) for high-performance systems, as well as the N3 CPU architecture (codename Hermes) for balanced systems. These designs are now ready for customers to begin integrating into their own chip designs, with both the individual CPU core designs as well as the larger Neoverse Compute Subsystems (CSS) available. Between the various combinations of IP configurations, Arm is looking to offer something for everyone, and especially chip designers who are looking to integrate ready-made IP for a quick turnaround in developing their own chips.

With that said, it should be noted that today’s announcement is also a lighter one than what we’ve come to expect from previous Neoverse announcements. Arm isn’t releasing any of the deep architectural details on the new Neoverse platforms today, so while we have the high-level details on the hardware and some basic performance estimates, the underlying details on the CPU cores and their related plumbing is something Arm is keeping to themselves until a later time.

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