AMD Ryzen APUs: Unleash Laptop Potential with Chiplet Tech

AMD Ryzen APU Benefits

According to AMD, cost and power are the primary obstacles to the company’s consideration of chiplet designs for its Ryzen APU line of laptops.

After cost and power constraints are removed, AMD would think about designing a chiplet for Ryzen APUs in the laptop market

The next big thing in the industry is to switch to a chiplet-based configuration. For those who don’t know, a chiplet is a collection of various chips integrated into a single package with an interconnected system that makes a significant contribution to the concept of “process shrinking”. Multiple chiplets with the same core IP or distinct ones can be combined, and the designs can be adjusted to provide the optimal performance for a particular product category.

Chiplet designs are challenged by the monolithic layout, which has been used for years and is different from chipmaking. AMD’s Ryzen APU series suggests that monolithic CPUs have a place in consumer laptops, even though they’re becoming less frequent, especially in high-end models.

Chiplet Technology in Laptop APUs

AMD said it is cautious to implement the “chiplet” method in conventional Ryzen APUs due to architecture limitations. Maintaining power efficiency is one of the things that chiplet configuration lacks, despite its many benefits, which include the capacity to target specialized workloads, shrink individual nodes, and lower expenses. In a Q&A session in South Korea, AMD’s David Afee, Corporate VP and General Manager, Client Channel Business, emphasized the factor and stated that he doesn’t think it’s the right time to move to chiplet designs for power-efficient CPUs just yet.

Therefore, the cost-effectiveness of adopting the chiplet designs is just as important as power. It appears that chiplets don’t produce the same cost-effectiveness as a monolithic die the higher you go in the entry-level or mainstream market. That’s one way to look at it, but AMD has also adopted chiplets for enthusiast-grade laptops using its high-end Dragon Range CPUs. The cost and power concerns aren’t very important in this case, since these are enthusiast products with elegant designs.

Additionally, AMD is anticipated to use a chiplet-based design for its upcoming Strix Point (Halo) chip family, which is planned to arrive next year, though specifics on that family are currently few. The lineup will also have a conventional monolithic layout, so it is not realistic to anticipate full chiplet realization in the popular laptop “Ryzen APU” category until 2026–2027. With its Meteor Lake and next CPUs, Intel is also going down the chiplet route. These CPUs use a fully disaggregated chip design with several tiles containing multiple core IPs and IO capabilities.

Although it’s unclear when power-efficient “chiplet-based” Ryzen APUs will be implemented, AMD appears to be planning for it. The company was undoubtedly the first to see chiplets’ potential and to provide them to high-end and general consumers on desktop and laptop platforms. Anticipating what AMD has in store for its first Ryzen APUs with a monolithic design, we are excited.

AMD Ryzen Mobile Processors:

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