AmpereOne-3 CPU teased: 256 cores, TSMC 3nm process node, PCIe 6.0 support, 12-channel DDR5

Ampere Computing already has its first-gen AmpereOne CPU on the market, but its next-generation AmpereOne-2 and AmpereOne-3 processors have been teased: AmpereOne-3 will reportedly be offered with up to 256 cores ready to go.

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AmpereOne features 192 physical cores, a 350W TDP, and 8-channel DDR5 memory, meaning it competes against Intel Xeon and AMD EPYC processors, but now we're hearing about AmpereOne-2 and AmpereOne-3. The Next Platform has the scoop, with Ampere gearing up for its second-generation AmpereOne processor known as AmpereOne-2.

The new AmpereOne-2 processors will feature an upgraded "A2" core architecture, and support for 12-channel DDR5 memory for even more performance. Ampere Computing says that its next-generation AmpereOne-2 processor will have a 33% increase in DDR5 memory controllers (12-channel versus 8-channel) with 50% more memory bandwidth, which will provide some very nice performance improvements.

After that, we've got AmpereOne-3 which will be a third-generation processor from Ampere Computing, featuring up to 256 cores of CPU power, and on TSMC's newer 3nm process node in a chiplet configuration. Ampere Computing is reportedly using an architecture that will support next-gen PCIe 6.0 connectivity -- very important for AI systems -- with 12 DDR5 memory controllers.

• Read more: AMD's next-gen EPYC 9845 'Turin' CPU: 160C/320T with 640MB cache, 500W power
• Read more: Intel's next-gen Clearwater Forest Xeon CPU has only E-Cores, but up to 288 cores

Wittich told The Next Platform: "We have been moving pretty fast on the on the compute side. is design has got about a lot of other cloud features in it - things around performance management to get the most out of all of those cores. In each of the chip releases, we are going to be making what would generally be considered generational changes in the CPU core. We are adding a lot in every single generation".

He continued, saying: "So you are going to see more performance, a lot more efficiency, a lot more features like security enhancements, which all happen at the microarchitecture level. But we have done a lot to ensure that you get great performance consistency across all of the AmpereOnes. We are also taking a chiplet approach with this 256-core design, which is another step as well. Chiplets are a pretty big part of our overall strategy".