AMD, ARM and Intel back a universal standard for chiplets

Some of the tech world's biggest companies want to make chiplets more ubiquitous. The Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express (UCIe) standard has been launched by a coalition that includes Intel, and is meant to ease connections in hardware and software. A designer could mix and match chiplets from different companies to create an ideal system-on-chip.

The alliance has already approved a specification. Some of the chip and cloud giants that are partners include TSMC, Microsoft, and Meta.

It could take a long time before you see chips built using the new standard. The form factor, protocols and other details are still being defined by the UCIe group.

There is an appeal for the companies involved. Companies could speed up the development of chips by using ready-made designs. They could sell chiplets to other companies. Chips might become more homogeneity, but they might show up sooner or deliver more consistent performance. It could be helpful in a lot of devices, from phones to the server that powers cloud services.