Re:Tenstorrent unveils Grayskull, its RISC-V answer to GPUs
by lobochrome on Sunday March 10, 2024 @08:32PM
(#39663677)
It's a tradeoff with verification and validation, not so much die-space. If you include the IP, you need to run an expensive (time-consuming) simulation and emulation for the IP. Then, you need to validate it on first silicon and pray that it doesn't impact yield in HVM.
These days, simulation runs basically nonstop on all the FPGAs the company is able to throw at it until tape out. Then, in post-silicon validation, you have engineering teams working 24/7 to validate the device on the bench. Finally, test engineering tries to achieve yield in HVM.
Anything that you don't need on the spec sheet or the designer insists on is cut to save time to market.
These days, simulation runs basically nonstop on all the FPGAs the company is able to throw at it until tape out. Then, in post-silicon validation, you have engineering teams working 24/7 to validate the device on the bench. Finally, test engineering tries to achieve yield in HVM.
Anything that you don't need on the spec sheet or the designer insists on is cut to save time to market.