Last week, Arm unveiled the architecture for their new CPU lineup for the annual cycle (news for the 2023 cycle). This year, the CPU side saw a rebrand of the flagship core (prime core) from the previous Cortex-X4 to a three-digit code Cortex-X925, aligning with other core sizes.
The new CPU lineup for 2024 consists of two cores: the flagship Cortex-X925 (successor to Cortex-X4) and the secondary core Cortex-A725 (successor to Cortex-A720), while the little brother Cortex-A520 retains the same architecture but utilizes a smaller size production process.
The flagship Cortex-X925, formerly known as Blackhawk, boasts a 36% increase in single-threaded performance and a 46% AI processing performance improvement (measured by time-to-first-token, the time it takes for the model Phi-3 to output the first result) compared to the Cortex-X4.
The secondary core Cortex-A725 has been upgraded with a 35% performance boost and a 25% energy efficiency improvement.
Although using the same architecture, the little brother Cortex-A520 benefits from a switch to a new 3nm production process, resulting in a 15% energy savings compared to before.
The final component in the package is the DSU-120 (DynamIQ Shared Unit), a chip for memory and control units for the CPU in the cluster, which has been revamped to reduce energy consumption by 50% for general tasks and 60% for cache misses.
Arm claims that the entire chip set has seen a 46% AI performance boost (compared to Cortex-X4), a 36% general task performance enhancement (versus smartphones from 2023), and a 35% energy efficiency improvement (compared to Cortex-A720).
Chip manufacturers ready to adopt the Cortex-X925 include MediaTek (named Dimensity 9400) and Samsung, while chip foundries ready to produce it include TSMC, Intel Foundry, and Samsung. Lastly, smartphone manufacturers ready to implement the chip are Vivo and Samsung.
TLDR: Arm unveiled its new CPU lineup with improved AI and performance metrics, featuring the Cortex-X925 flagship core and Cortex-A725 secondary core, alongside energy-efficient improvements across the board. Multiple chip manufacturers and foundries are on board, with Vivo and Samsung set to integrate the new chips in their smartphones.
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