robaba

Marvin said:

blastdoor said:

10x1=10
10x2=20
10x4=40

sure sounds reminiscent of a multi chip module!  Makes sense for economies of scale 

I wonder what the interconnect technology will be….

Intel is reportedly doing this kind of setup with the Xeon next year:

https://wccftech.com/intel-next-gen-sapphire-rapids-xeon-cpu-die-shot-unveils-mcm-design-up-to-80-cores-4-chiplets/
https://www.extremetech.com/computing/321658-sapphire-rapids-cpu-leak-up-to-56-cores-64gb-of-onboard-hbm2

60-cores total, 15 per chip. It says they will use up to 64GB HBM2 on-die memory (4 x 16GB stacks) up to 1TB/s combined with up to 4TB of lower bandwidth DDR5 memory (~300GB/s 8-channel).

It may be better for Apple to make a larger custom chip with different cores internally but it makes sense that it would be cost-effective with multiple chips and they can shut off entire chips to save power.

Yup-- Intel calls the packaging/fabric tech 'tile.' 

I'm wondering if TSMC has something similar. TSMC's communication about its packaging tech is hard to decipher. I read they now lump it altogether under a name like '3Dfabric' (https://www.anandtech.com/show/16051/3dfabric-the-home-for-tsmc-2-5d-and-3d-stacking-roadmap), but it's still pretty opaque. I guess that's fine -- their customers surely know what it all means (their customers are companies like Apple, not individuals like me). 

MacPro said:

I know it's an old well-worn wish from the Intel era but now Apple could  (and I hope Apple does) make the full-on professional beast and also a mid-sized pro-sumer version. There are a ton of small businesses unable to justify the high-end Mac Pro but that have needs above the iMac and Mac mini range.

h4y3s said:

I would imagine (expect) APPL will be introducing an M1X (ish) iMac Pro in black (let’s go for piano black!) soon!

lkrupp said:

robaba said:

No way in Hell Apple would be allowed to purchase TSMC, even if they were willing to be bought out (which they are not).  Half a dozen nations would block the sale, and even if it were to bo through, Apple would be broken up shortly there-after.  

Not.

Gonna.

Happen.

If Apple can design its own SOC then why can’t it own a chip fab?