Yadro EL Construct Processors

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• Processor
• CPU

2024: Chip development based on open RISC-V architecture. 6 billion rubles invested in the project

At the end of June 2024, the Russian company Yadro spoke about the development of a new microprocessor based on open architecture. RISC-V The new processor Yadro is based on the cores of the St. Petersburg company, 51 Syntacore% of which Yadro acquired in November 2019.

The development of these cores has been underway since 2015, which made it possible to create a reliable base for a new domestic chip. Yadro's investments in the development of a line of eight-core processors with a 12 nm topology amounted to about 6 billion rubles. The company planned to start mass production in 2023, but the actual dates were adjusted.

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As noted by Dmitry Cherkasov, CEO of Core Client Systems, said:

We have already received the first prototype of our own processor based on the RISC-V architecture. I remind you that this is an independent architecture from Intel and ARM.

The creation of such a processor can cost 3-4 billion rubles, while production on the first attempt can be fraught with certain difficulties, the interlocutors of the newspaper Sheets"." Yadro plans to use the new processor in its tablet. Kvadra T The first prototype device on its own chip is expected in 2025. In 2024, the Kvadra_T is released on an ARM architecture processor and runs under Project-based management operating system kvadraOS Android Open Source.

According to Vedomosti, the retail price of the Kvadra_T tablet by the end of June 2024 is about 40 thousand rubles. However, experts warn that the transition to a domestic processor could lead to a rise in the cost of the device due to a limited sales market.

The main issue remains the place of production of the new processor. Experts note that in Russia, the possibilities for producing chips with the required topology are limited. The most likely scenario is the production of silicon wafers abroad, presumably in China, followed by processing and testing of microcircuits in Russia.^[1]

2021: Yadro EL Construct Line of Processors Development

On September 13, 2021, it became known that in the line of processors created by the Russian developer of computer technology under the Yadro brand (KNS Group LLC, part of ICS Holding), one of the chips will be designed for use in mobile technology, including tablets. This was told by the director of technology Yadro Artem Ikoev and the managing director of Yadro Alexey Shelobkov.

According to Artem Ikoev, Yadro's total investment in the development of the mentioned processors will amount to approximately 6 billion rubles. Raising budget funds is not planned.

When developing its own processor architecture, Yadro will use the open RISC-V architecture. It is fundamentally different from the very common ARM in the mobile market by the lack of strict licensing.

The class of end equipment on the chips in question in the company tend to be called thin customers or wearable mobile devices. Such devices usually do not have serious computing power, use simple operating systems and often perform the functions of access terminals.

The processor for thin clients will belong to the Yadro EL Construct line. Its development is underway from January 2021. The availability of the first samples is planned in the second half of 2022, and the release of serial copies is scheduled for 2023.

At the design stage of the first generation of EL Construct processors, functional requirements for smartphones were not considered, the processor is designed for use in tablets and other thin clients, the company emphasized.

At the same time, the company is not yet ready to name the well-known tablet models existing on the market for September 2021, for which the designed processor would suit its characteristics.

The tablet chip is created using 12 nm technology. It will contain eight energy-efficient RISC-V computing cores operating at 1.5-2.0 GHz. It is planned to equip with high-speed memory subsystems, coprocessors for image processing, graphics and video. It is planned to implement support for the USB-C standard in the chip for connecting external devices.

In a sense, we can assume that this project goes back to 2015. The Yadro EL Construct processors will be based on 64-bit application class cores of the St. Petersburg company Syntacore, which have been developed by it since 2015. Control over Sintakor LLC was obtained by KNS Group in October 2019.

In the line of processors for client devices Yadro EL Construct for September 221, a 12-nanometer chip is also being developed for development platforms (compact single-board computer) with four RISC-V cores, with a clock frequency of about 1.5 GHz. It will be equipped with a set of high-speed peripherals and standard interfaces required for this class of applications.

Another family of the company's processors planned for development was named. Yadro EL Suprema It belongs to the industrial class (enterprise) and is designed in several modifications. More Russian here^[2]

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