A new standard could let companies build processors out of Lego-like chiplets

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The world's biggest chipmakers are coming together to create a new system for integrating chiplets together.

The standardization effort has the support of virtually every major name in processor technology, including the major players in Semiconductor-adjacent spaces like Arm, Meta, and Microsoft.

UCIe is aiming to take the same broad model of PCIe that has been used for years, expanded over to chiplets that only do a few specific functions.

The goal with UCIe is to create a standard for connecting chiplets together, making it easier for companies to mix and match different chiplet components. The idea is that tech companies will be able to simply slot in different chiplet components into their designs, similar to how you can simply slot in any PCIe compatible accessory to your computer.

There are two ways to make a modern system-on-a-chip. All the bits and pieces of a chip are put into a single piece ofSilicon.

There is a different approach taken by chiplets. Instead of making one big chip with all the components on it, chiplets break things up into smaller components that are combined into a larger processor.

There are benefits to the chiplet system. If a core doesn't work, it's easier to throw away one of two eight-core chiplets than it is to lose a full 16-core chip. The benefits of chip design include being able to shrink down critical components to new, smaller processing areas without having to shrink down the entire system. Combining chiplets lets companies make bigger chips than they could with a single design.

The recent Zen 2 and Zen 3-based Ryzen chips are some of the most prominent examples of modern chiplet designs: each Zen 3 processor, for example, is made out of 7nm eight-core chiplets.

The project is still in the early stages. The standardization process is focused on establishing rules for chiplets together into larger packages. There are plans to create an industry organization that will help define next-generation UCIe technology, including chiplet form factor, management, enhanced security, and other essential protocols.

It is possible that one day there will be an entire chiplet ecosystems that will allow companies to build a custom system on a chip by shopping around for different components. It's a big benefit for companies likeAMD orQualcomm as they look to design and build even more powerful and complex chips going forward, and it's good motivation for foundries like TSMC and SAMSUNG to get on board, too.