Akeana Unveils a Triple-Risk RISC-V Lineup, From IoT Microcontrollers to AI Powerhouse Cores

RISC-V processor startup Akeana has come out of stealth with the announcement of three processor IP ranges, starting from Akeana 100 Collection 32-bit microcontroller cores to Akeana 5000 Collection “excessive efficiency processor” focusing on the info middle and extra.

“Our staff has a confirmed observe report of designing world-class server chips, and we at the moment are making use of that experience to the broader semiconductor market as we formally go to market,” claims Rabin Sugumar, Akeana’s chief govt officer. “With our wealthy portfolio of customizable cores and particular safety, debug, RAS, and telemetry options, we offer our prospects with unparalleled efficiency, observability, and reliability. We imagine our merchandise will revolutionize the trade.”

Based across the similar staff as was chargeable for designing the ThunderX2 server chips at Marvell, Akeana’s grand launch covers three core product traces. The primary is the Akeana 100 Collection, 32-bit RISC-V cores, that are designed to be configurable from low-power microcontroller use-cases up by way of edge gateways and energy-efficient private computing units, with a 2GHz most frequency and between 4 and 9.5 CoreMarks per megahertz (CoreMark/MHz).

For individuals who require extra energy, the Akeana 1000 Collection jumps to 64-bit with the addition of a reminiscence administration unit (MMU) to allow Linux compatibility. The appliance-class cores may be configured for in-order or out-of-order execution, the corporate says, and embrace non-compulsory multithreading, vector acceleration, virtualization hypervisor, and “different extensions” — plus help for “non-compulsory AI [Artificial Intelligence] computation extensions.” These, the corporate says, can go above 2GHz, and provide 5 to 18 SpecINT2k6s per gigahertz (SpecINT2k6/GHz).

Lastly, the Akeana 5000 Collection sits on the prime finish of the corporate’s affords delivering “excessive efficiency processors,” which Akeana claims can outperform its rivals in each the RISC-V and broader processor segments. These 64-bit cores are designed to be used in laptops, desktop, cloud servers, and extra — and, the corporate says, are software-compatible with the Akeana 1000 Collection however ship a serious enhance in single-thread efficiency. This vary tops out at 3GHz, with a boosted efficiency of 20 to 25 SpecINT2k6/GHz.

On the similar time, Akeana has introduced a spread of IP blocks designed to assist flip any of the above cores right into a fully-functional system-on-chip, together with a coherent cluster cache, enter/output reminiscence administration unit (IOMMU), interrupt controller, and a scalable mesh and coherence hub for the creation of enormous coherent compute subsystems. An AI matrix computation engine, in the meantime, boosts on-device synthetic intelligence and machine studying efficiency nonetheless additional.

“The migration to RISC-V is in full flight,” claims Mamoon Hamid, companion at Akeana investor Kleiner Perkins, in help of the corporate’s launch. “Nearly all of prime semiconductor companies are transitioning to RISC-V, with many selecting Akeana as a result of its greatest in school efficiency.”

Extra data on the corporate’s choices can be found on the Akeana web site; the corporate has not but introduced design wins, nor a timescale on when the primary bodily {hardware} based mostly on Akeana IP is anticipated to ship.