![]() First, it gives them a solution for when semiconductor foundries hit a wall with process technology. This approach helps Apple on several fronts. This is highly relevant because as leading-edge process nodes slow or become harder to achieve on a predictable cadence, the packaging will start to matter more to get additional gains and efficiency on all performance vectors per watt. However, where this gets really interesting is how Apple is starting to innovate at the package level of silicon, not just the architectural level of design. This underscores Apple's efforts to be the industry leader in performance per watt. In the March announcement, Apple's charts showed that M1 Ultra consumes only marginally more power than one single M1 Max. Here is the link to the Apple patent on this design. However, Apple's approach is more power-efficient than if Apple designed a new SoC the die size of the M1 Ultra. This approach allows the software to see only one SoC but leverage all the CPU cores and GPU cores as if it was a single chip rather than two. Apple used a technique using an interposer at the substrate level and the silicon package itself to allow for 10,000 connection points, thus rendering two M1 Max chips as one single monolithic SoC. Apple calls the architecture they used to fuse these two chips, UltraFusion. M1 Ultra is, to my knowledge, the first die-to-die or monolithic SoC to monolithic SoC implementation. But the M1 Ultra does something extremely clever that gives Apple several interesting advantages architecturally. ![]() ![]() With the family now set, we can expect the next M-series family to be M2, M2 Pro, M2 Max, M2 Ultra, and with a likely annual cadence. The M1 Ultra is the newest edition and perhaps the most clever design that also does some future signaling of Apple's architecture evolution. Apple's commentary during the event was their newest chip is the last chip in the M-Series family which now consists of M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max, and M1 Ultra. ![]()
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