AMD on NVIDIA not using GPU chiplets: 'we have a big lead there'

AMD will debut its next-gen RDNA 3 architecture later this year, where rumor has it that the big boy flagship Navi 31-based offering will feature a GPU chiplet-based design... and NVIDIA won't have anything with GPU chiplets, and AMD knows that.

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In a recent interview with VentureBeat, AMD senior vice president, corporate fellow and product technology architect, Sam Naffziger talked about GPUs using up to 600W of power by 2025, and so much more. But then VentureBeat's last question was a doozy "Compared to NVIDIA and Intel, do you feel like we're in a state of divergence when it comes to designs, or some kind of convergence?"

Naffziger replied, explaining: "It's hard to speculate. NVIDIA certainly hasn't jumped on the chiplet bandwagon yet. We have a big lead there and we see big opportunities with that. They'll be forced to do so. We'll see when they deploy it. Intel certainly has jumped on that. Ponte Vecchio is the poster child for chiplet extremes. I would say that there's more convergence than divergence.

• Read more: AMD patent teases GPU chiplet tech, the great big leap over NVIDIA?!
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Naffziger continued: But the companies that innovate in the right space the soonest gain an advantage. It's when you deliver the new technology as much as what the technology is. Whoever is first with innovation has the advantage".

Now, if you're up to date with this all... I reported back in July 2017 (5 years ago now!) that NVIDIA was rumored to shift over to multiple GPUs on future GeForce graphics cards... more on that here. It hasn't happened yet, but AMD will have multiple GPU chiplets on its upcoming Navi 31-based graphics cards according to rumors, but NVIDIA will be sitting with a monolithic GPU design for Ada Lovelace.

• Read more: AMD expects GPUs to need 600W of power in 2025
• Read more: AMD: NVIDIA is pushing next-gen GPU power usage 'higher than we will'
• Read more: AMD: next-gen RDNA 3 GPU has +50% performance-per-watt over RDNA 2

The previous question from VentureBeat -- As far as the concern that we were running into walls with things like Moore's Law hitting limits and other physical limitations looming, how concerned are you about that at this point? -- had Naffziger replying with: "I'm concerned in the sense that it drives new dimensions of innovation to get the efficiencies. The silicon technology is not going to do it for us".

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He continued: "We've seen this coming for a long time. Like I said, lead times are long. We've been investing in things like the Infinity Cache, chiplet architecture and all these approaches that exploit new dimensions to keep the gains coming. So yes, it's a big concern, but for those who prepare in advance and invest in the right technology, we have a lot of opportunity still".

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