Posted on 11/27/2015 12:51:44 PM PST by Swordmaker
Thanks to the folks at Chipworks, this Fool discusses the details of the A9X chip inside of Apple's iPad Pro.
Every year, the patent analysis and competitive intelligence company Chipworks tears down the applications processors found in Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) latest iPhones and iPads. As you might recall, Chipworks confirmed that the A9 processor inside of the iPhone 6s/6s was, indeed, manufactured by both TSMC (NYSE:TSM) and Samsung (NASDAQOTH:SSNLF), a fact that came as a surprise to many.
Chipworks also provided chip die sizes for both the TSMC-built and the Samsung-built A9s, giving the public a glimpse into how both chip manufacturers' respective 16-nanometer and 14-nanometer chip manufacturing technologies' compared in terms of transistor density.
After contacting the folks at Chipworks, I was able to get some interesting information about the A9X chip that powers the recently launched iPad Pro as well as a die shot of the chip that I am allowed to publish for your viewing pleasure.
Without further ado, let's get to the good stuff.
Say "hi" to the A9X
Following is a die shot of the A9X, courtesy of Chipworks:
The Apple A9X in all of its glory. Source: Chipworks, with author annotations.
Chipworks' Dick James tells me that he sees a 12-cluster GPU, two CPU cores, and an absence of the level-three cache memory found inside the A9 chip (I'll explain why I think Apple didn't include it later in this article). I agree with his assessment. The two CPU cores can be seen in the green box, and I believe that inside of each blue box are two GPU clusters, for a total of 12 clusters.
One thing worth noting is that Imagination Technologies (NASDAQOTH:IGNMF)Â -- Apple's GPU IP supplier -- only lists variants of its Series 7XT graphics IP with 2, 4, 6, 8, and 16 "shading clusters." The 12-cluster design points to a semi-custom implementation by Apple of the Series 7XT, similar to what Apple did with the Series 6XT-based graphics IP in last year's A8X chip.
How big is this beast?
According to Chipworks, the chip measures in at approximately 147 square millimeters, a whopping 40% larger than the size of the TSMC-built variant of the A9 chip inside of the iPhone 6s/6s Plus. This is an absolutely huge increase in area (and by extension transistor count) from the A9, which no doubt means that this monster of a chip is far more difficult to manufacture, especially on a relatively new manufacturing technology.
Connecting the lack of cache with die size
Remember how I said that it doesn't look like the A9X features the 8 megabytes of on-die cache memory that the A9 does? Well, I think I have an explanation for that.
The A9X features a memory interface that's twice as wide as the one on the A9, allowing the chip to pass data to and from memory at twice the rate that the A9 can.
I believe that this is enabled by the fact that a chip like the A9X, which powers a relatively large device such as the iPad Pro, has both more thermal headroom than the A9 (since the iPad Pro is a larger device that can handle a more power hungry chip) and can take up a larger area footprint than a phone chip (the memory inside of the iPhone 6s/6s is stacked on-top of the A9 package; the memory in the iPad Pro sits on the logic board).Â
Finally, note that the A9X is already a very large chip, which means that it's probably much more difficult (and expensive) to manufacture than the A9. Adding the additional level three cache may not have brought enough of a performance improvement (particularly in light of the much wider memory interface) to justify the increased chip manufacturing costs.
The A9X is a great technical achievement
I believe that the A9X is easily the most advanced mobile system-on-a-chip available today. It has best-in-class CPU/graphics performance and it is an extremely large chip built on a bleeding-edge foundry manufacturing process.
It is little wonder that the chip performs as well as it does in the various performance tests available online, and I believe that the engineering teams at Apple should be quite proud of themselves for building and deploying a chip like the A9X in 2015.
I look forward to seeing more from Apple's chip teams in the coming years; I have a feeling that investors and customers alike will continue to be impressed.
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Enhance Federal Data Interface equipped, I presume.
You presume exactly wrong. Where have you been? The US Government has been extremely vexed with Apple because they do not have a way to break into any iOS device. No backdoors or way of decrypting the data on IOS devices or Apple's iCloud. Even Apple cannot do access their users' data without the user's passcode.
Apple's CEO On Encryption: "You Can't Have A Back Door That's Only For The Good Guys"
by Steve Morgan -- Forbes Magazine-- November 21, 2015There's a burning debate -- bordering on a battle -- between the U.S. government and technology companies over encryption.
The government asserts that encryption -- when it is so strong that the police can not eavesdrop on communications in their efforts to catch and prosecute criminals -- is a bad thing. Some government officials have even suggested that terrorists use encrypted communications to help carry out their acts of malice.
The recent terrorist attacks in Paris have amplified the government's contention that strong encryption is putting our country (and our allies) at risk. This creates fear, uncertainty, and doubt for the American people -- given that most of us do not understand the intricacies of encryption.
Tech companies are focused on building the strongest possible encryption and cybersecurity into their products -- so strong that even they can not access data and communications on the computers, laptops, tablets, phones, and software they manufacture. In response to a cybercrime epidemic, tech companies are aiming for hacker-proof digital communications that enable businesses to conduct secure e-commerce, to protect consumers from identity theft, and to provide everyone with a safer smart phone experience. . .
It can’t possibly be any other way, can it.
Brother got the iPad Pro w/the awesome Pencil. I am already jealous. The screen is incredible, games run so fast, and those speakers. Wow. This is an amazing device. The Pencil slows away the Surface Pro’s stylus, if you are an artist.
That’s an impressive SoC!!!
Shame about the missing on-chip cache but I guess they know what they are doing.
I’m glad to see Apple sticking to their guns on encryption... glad to see someone is doing it!
Despots have always hated the power of encryption in the hands of the unwashed.
Guilty of failing to display the Sarc tag. But it wasn't single-entendre; at some point they're going to roll over in one way or another, if they haven't already, in some way or another. There are laws of human nature at work here.
But sometimes, us humans have to say - Enough!
I love these die shots of computer chips. many are really neat looking, and are works of art, that is functional as well.
So this is NOT going into the next iPhone, I presume?
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