←back to thread

GlobalFoundries to Acquire MIPS

(mips.com)
224 points mshockwave | 2 comments | 08 Jul 25 16:57 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
Show context
alephnerd ◴[08 Jul 25 17:32 UTC] No.44502181[source]▶
Interesting but complementary foray into owning the end-to-end pipeline of chip design, fabrication, and packaging - especially for embedded use cases.

MIPS has also hitched it's horse to RISC-V now, and I am seeing a critical mass of talent and capital forming in that space.

replies(2): >>44502288 #>>44503638 #
kragen ◴[08 Jul 25 17:43 UTC] No.44502288[source]▶
The critical mass of talent and capital forming in the RISC-V space happened in 02019 at Alibaba: https://www.cnx-software.com/2019/07/27/alibaba-unveils-xuan...

AFAIK MIPS still hasn't shipped a high-end processor competitive with the XuanTie 910 that article is about. And I think the billions of RISC-V microcontroller cores that have shipped already (10 billion as of 02022 according to https://wccftech.com/x86-arm-rival-risc-v-architecture-ships...) are also mostly not from MIPS.

replies(4): >>44502616 #>>44502618 #>>44503499 #>>44504041 #
Findecanor ◴[08 Jul 25 21:00 UTC] No.44504041[source]▶
It was some time ago that MIPS did announce that they had competitive RISC-V cores and had signed customers for them: LG and in the automotive sector. I'd think those should be taped out by now, but who knows...

I think the C910 looks better on paper than it performs in practice. I hope that isn't the case for MIPS.

replies(1): >>44504072 #
kragen ◴[08 Jul 25 21:05 UTC] No.44504072[source]▶
Do you have any details?
replies(2): >>44504116 #>>44504882 #
1. Findecanor ◴[08 Jul 25 21:11 UTC] No.44504116[source]▶
I can only refer to MIPS' own press releases, unfortunately. They mention 4-wide OoO, RV64GH + Zbb + Zba. no V.

That is a frustrating pattern in the RISC-V world. Many companies that boast having x wide cores with y SPECint numbers but nothing that has been independently verified.

replies(1): >>44504204 #
2. kragen ◴[08 Jul 25 21:27 UTC] No.44504204[source]▶
No V sounds like a bad sign for performance. Do they have any part numbers?