SiFive Enhances Popular X280 Processor IP to Meet Accelerated Demand for Vector Processing

Leading performance for AI inference, Image Processing, and Datacenter applications driving double-digit design wins

San Mateo, Calif., June 21, 2022 – SiFive Inc., the founder and leader of RISC-V computing, today announced the release of the latest version of its SiFive® Intelligence™ X280 processor, which introduces significant new features including scalability up to a 16-core cache-coherent complex, WorldGuard trusted protection, and a new interface allowing for seamless integration between the X280 vector unit and customer-designed external AI accelerators or other coprocessors, called VCIX (Vector Coprocessor Interface eXtension). Collectively, these enhanced features deliver unmatched scalability, security, and interoperability to the SiFive X280, the most widely adopted implementation of the RISC-V Vector extension. This latest version of the X280 is a powerful solution for those looking for alternatives to legacy SIMD-style architectures.

Publicly available since April 2021, the SiFive Intelligence X280 has seen rapid adoption as customers gravitate towards its unique combination of performance, power efficiency, and an intuitive programming model. The X280 has claimed double-digit design wins in the past six months alone, in a wide variety of data-driven applications, including AI inference, image processing, datacenter acceleration, and automotive use cases.

“The market feedback about our X280 has been nothing short of incredible. The product maps extremely well to the needs of the modern workload and vector processing and was introduced at the exact right moment to accelerate RISC-V’s already considerable momentum,” said Chris Jones, VP Product at SiFive. “The new X280 enhancements are a direct result of listening and collaborating with customers and are already designed into multiple sockets around the world. Additionally, the software ecosystem around the RISC-V vector extension is growing exponentially which ensures broad support for customers and is driving the inevitable, wide industry adoption of RISC-V.”

The X280 SiFive® Intelligence™ X280 is a multi-core and multi-cluster capable RISC-V processor with full support of the RISC-V vector extension standard and SiFive Intelligence Extensions and is optimized for AI/ML compute at the edge.

The X280 is also ideal for applications requiring high-throughput, single-thread performance while under power constraints (e.g., AR, VR, sensor hubs, IVI systems, IP cameras, digital cameras, and gaming devices). Several unique and important new SiFive features include:

Multi-cluster: SiFive has built upon our industry-first multi-cluster RISC-V solution in the X280, which offers up to 4 clusters of 4-core complexes and scaling to multi-TOP performance.

VCIX (Vector Coprocessor Interface eXtension): This innovative vector coprocessor accelerator interface allows for seamless integration with customer AI architectures including a wide and growing number of 3rd party accelerators, enabling easily programmed, low latency data movement between the host processor and customer owned AI accelerator solutions.

WorldGuard Ready: SiFive’s implementation of the open standard WorldGuard security solution brings a trusted execution environment to high core count platforms to protect your AI/ML algorithm against malicious attacks and offers an alternative to legacy security solutions.

For more information about SiFive vector solutions visit sifive.com/technology/vectors. For more information about the SiFive Intelligence X280 visit sifive.com/cores/intelligence-x280.

About SiFive
As the pioneers who introduced RISC-V to the world, SiFive is transforming the future of compute by bringing the limitless potential of RISC-V to the highest performance and most data-intensive applications in the world. SiFive’s unrivaled compute platforms have enabled leading technology companies around the world to innovate, optimize and deliver the most advanced solutions of tomorrow across every market segment of chip design, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, automotive, data center, mobile, and consumer. With SiFive, the future of RISC-V has no limits. For more information, please visit www.sifive.com.