1| Styx Review | January 23, 2013 | Confidential – Internal Only

FROM THE PS/2 TO THE SMARTPHONE, A PERSPECTIVE OF THE COMPUTING REVOLUTION FROM THE TRENCHESSam HuynhPrincipal Member of Technical Staff

October 29, 2015

Agenda

• Who am I? • Introduction to AMD• My role inside AMD• From the PS/2 to the smartphone, a

perspective of the computing revolution from the trenches

• Q and A

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Who am I?• Born in Saigon (now known as Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam at the

end of the Vietnam War.• Family immigrated to Seattle, Washington after the Vietnam War• Grew up in Seattle and eventually attended the University of

Washington– BSEE ’94, MSEE ‘96 and Ph.D. EE ’99

• Relocated to Mountain View, CA in ‘98 and now live in Santa Cruz, CA

• Three patents (ATI/AMD)– Dynamic impedance compensation circuit and method– Bit deskewing IO method and system– Methods and apparatus for transmitting and receiving data signals

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Career Journey

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Cascade Design

Automation

Introduction to AMD• Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Inc was founded on May 1, 1969 and is

based in Sunnyvale, CA. • The company designs, develops, and sells microprocessor products, such

as central processing units (CPU), accelerated processing units (APU), and graphics processing units (GPU) for servers, desktop PCs, and mobile devices. – Its microprocessors for server platforms include AMD Opteron 6000, 4000, and 3000

series processors; – APUs for mobile PC platforms consist of performance mainstream AMD A-Series APU,

the AMD E-Series APU for everyday performance, the AMD C-Series APU for HD Internet experiences in small form factors, and the AMD Z-Series APU for Windows-based tablets;

– CPUs for mobile PC platforms comprise the AMD Phenom II mobile processor, AMD Turion X2 mobile processor, AMD Turion II mobile processor, AMD Turion II ultra mobile processor, and AMD Athlon II processor.

– Discreet graphics solutions include Radeon and Radeon HD series– AMD controller hub-based chipsets for its APUs; and graphics, video, and multimedia

products for use in desktop and notebook computers

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World wide locations

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Sunnyvale, CA

Austin, TX Orlando, FL

Toronto, OntarioBoston, MA

Beijing, China

Shanghai, China

Bangalore, IndiaHydrabad, India

9 majordesign centers world wide

Approximately10,000 employeesWorld wide

About AMD• The AMD mission: To be the leading designer and

integrator of innovative, tailored technology solutions that empower people to push the boundaries of what is possible

• Operations in 31 countries with more than 50 locations, including more than a dozen R&D facilities, nearly two dozen international sales offices, and assembly/test manufacturing facilities in Malaysia and China

• Fortune 500 company• 2014 revenues of $5.51 billion• Main competitors:

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AMD and YOU• Great brands join with AMD to bring their products to life

– Technology providers you know and trust, such as Acer, Apple, Asus, Cisco, Dell, GE, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft, Nintendo, Samsung, Sapphire, Sony, Toshiba, Vizio, and XFX.

– These leading brands count on AMD to find innovative ways to power the solutions they create for the different ways you work and play with technology in your every day life.

• Named Top 100 best corporate citizens of 2013 by the Corporate Responsibility (CR) Magazine– Innovation and technology are what we do, but responsibility is who we

are. – AMD was founded on the belief that if you put people first, products and

profits will follow. – Today we call this culture The AMD Way. – It means doing business in a responsible way, caring for the environment

and contributing to our communities.04/21/23 8

AMD Time line (1969 – 2010)

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AMD Founded5/1/1969

1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

ATI acquires ArtX in 2000

AMD acquiresATI in 2006

AMD signs onas second source for x86 in 1982

AMD introducedK5; split with Intelin 1996

Athlon 64 Introduced in 2003

ATI FoundedIn 1985

ATI introducedRadeon in 2000

GameCube In 2001

Wii in 2006

Xbox 360in 2005

AMD was founded in 1969 by a group of formerexecutives from FairchildSemiconductors.

AMD became a fabless semiconductorcompany in 2009 with the spin off of foundryoperations to become Global Foundries.

Dual core 2005

AMD Time line (2010 – Present)

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2010 2015

AMD introduceAPUs in 2011

Wii U in 2012

AMD Seattle64 bit ARM sever in 2014

Xbox one/PS4 in 2013

Carrizo introduced in 2015

Radeon HD8000In 2013

Radeon Fury XIn 2015

My role inside AMD• Responsible for developing methodologies using next

generation technologies (10nm and 7nm)• Our main mission:

– Convert source code into an actual silicon chip– This process is known as RTL-to-GDS

• Register Transfer Level (RTL) is a form of verilog used to describe the chip’s functionality

• Graphic Database System (GDS) is the geometrical information released to foundries for silicon manufacturing

• Work with teams in Austin, Boston, Toronto, and India– Create synergies for cross functional teams and inter disciplines – Work with flex time– Cycles (CES, E3, back to school, and Christmas)

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RTL-to-GDS

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Input: RTL

Synthesis

DRC/LVS

FloorplanningPlace and

Route

Timing closure

Output: GDS to the foundry

Converts high level description language into physical gates

Organizes blocks based on timing and connectivity

Makes the physicalconnections

Design Rule Check (DRC)Layout Versus Schematic (LVS)

Meets frequency specs

FROM THE PS/2 TO THE SMARTPHONE, A PERSPECTIVE OF THE COMPUTING REVOLUTION FROM THE TRENCHES

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How did we get from…

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$3000 ($6329.11 in 2015 dollars) in 1987 with university student discount

Free ($0) with 2 year commitment (in 2015)

This is how…

• Demand: Performance, Power, and Price • Globalization• Foundry/circuit technology• Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools

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Performance, Power and Price• Performance– Clock frequency– IPC (Instructions Per Cycle)

• Power– Maintain a certain level of performance but reduce

power consumption– Battery life

• Price– Lower and keeps getting lower – More features

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Globalization• How do we improve performance, reduce

power, lower cost/price and still make money? – Performance and power foundry/circuit tech– Increase market size expand world wide

specifically China, India, Brazil, etc…– Intellectual competition especially Taiwan, China

and India• TSMC is the world’s largest independent semiconductor

foundry (founded in 1987)

– Effective “24 hour” operation

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Foundry/Circuit technology• Foundry technology– Bipolar junction transistors (BJT) Complimentary Metal

Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS)– Feature size: 3um (3000nm) 7nm– Approximately 428x reduction in approximately 35 years

• Circuit technology– Serial links• ISA EISA PCI, AGP USB, PCIE, and SATA

– Main Memory

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BJT versus CMOS

• Advantages of CMOS over BJT– CMOS is a better switch– Effective zero static power

consumption– High packing densities– Relative easy design, integration

and manufacturing process

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Radeon from 2000 - 2015

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8086 - APUs Year Technology Voltage Bus width Freq.

8086 1976 3000nm > 5V 16 bits 5MHz – 10MHz

286 1984 1500nm 5V 16 bits 8MHz – 20MHz

368 1991 1500nm - 800nm 5V 32 bits 20MHz – 40MHz

486 1993 500nm 3.3V – 5V 32 bits 25MHz – 100MHz

5x86 1995 350nm 3.3V – 3.45V 32 bits 133MHz – 150MHz

K6 1997 350nm 2.9V – 3.3V 32 bits 166MHz – 300MHz

Athlon 1999 250nm – 130nm 1.6V – 1.8V 32 bits 500MHz – 2.33GHz

Athlon64 (first dual core)

2003 130nm – 65nm 1.3V – 1.5V 64 bits 1GHz – 3.2GHz

Phenom (2 – 6 cores) 2007 65nm – 45nm 1.2V 64 bits 2GHz – 3.8GHz

APU (2 – 8 cores with GPU)

2011 32nm 1.2V 64 bits 3GHz – 5GHz

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APUs

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The ARM revolution is here…• Cloud – Non compute intensive applications– Media streaming and storage– E-commerce

• Optimized for reduce cost, heat and power– Good for light, portable devices such as

smartphones and tablets– iPhones, iPads, and iPods use ARM– Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors are used in

Android smartphones and tablets04/21/23 23

AMD introduces SEATTLE

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Age of Parallel Computing• SISD = Single Instruction Single Data– 8086 – 486

• SIMD = Single Instruction Multiple Data– Graphics Processing Units (GPU) – Radeon

• MISD = Multiple Instruction Single Data– No personal experience with this architecture

• MIMD = Multiple Instruction Multiple Data– Multi-core CPU (Athlon, Phemon, etc…)

• APU = Accelerated Processing Unit– Mulit-core CPU + GPU (MIMD + SIMD)

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Parallel versus Serial links• Parallel link transmits several streams of data

simultaneously along multiple channels (wires, etc…)– Pros: Easier to design– Cons: More pins (more area), limited data rate

• Serial link transmits a single stream of data– Pros: Fewer pins (less area), higher data rate– Cons: Design complexity

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BUS interfaces (1981 – now)Style Bus Width Bit rate

ISA Parallel 8 or 16 8/16/32 Mbytes/s Industry Standard Architecture

EISA Parallel 32 33 Mbytes/s Extended ISA

VLB Parallel 32 100/133/166/200 Mbytes/s Video Electronics Standards Association local bus

PCI Parallel 32 or 64 133/266/533 Mbytes/s Peripheral Component Interconnect

AGP Parallel 32 2133 Mbytes/s Accelerated Graphics Port

ATA Parallel 16 16/33/66/100/133 Mbytes/s PC/AT Attachment

USB Serial 1 1.5/12/480/5000/10000 Mbits/s Universal Serial Bus

PCIe Serial 1 250/500/985/1969 Mbytes/s PCI express

SATA Serial 1 1.5/3.0/6.0 Gbits/s Serial ATA

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DRAMs (Dynamic random access memory)

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DRAM density

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Today’s tools to build tomorrow’s technologies

• Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools– Cadence (Virtuoso), Synopsys (PrimeTime),

Mentor Graphics (Calibre), etc…

• Linux (approximately 2003 to present)– Enabled cheap PCs (~$2K) to replace specialized

expensive servers (~$20K)– Get a lot more compute for the same price

• Multi-threading (approximately 2007 to present)– Took advantage of multiple cores

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All that leads to this…

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CPU

Northbridge

Southbridge

AGP

DDR DRAMSingle core

ATA

1994$2000 ($3236.25 in 2015 dollars)

KB M other

2015(< $250 laptop)

SB

Graphics

NB

CPU (2 - 8 cores)

SDR DRAM

KB M USB

SATA

PCIePCI

VLB

Network

04/21/23 331994

2000

2006

20132013

2012

2006

2001

19961991

1985

2005

2001

The Revolution continues…• Mobility/Density Lower Power Consumption• Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC)

versus Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC)– RISC (Alpha, ARM, PowerPC, SPARC) – CISC (x86, Motorola 68K)

• Clock gating/Power gating – stopping the clock/turning off the power when idling

• Foundry Technology – reduce static leakage

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Conclusion• The Revolution continues• Companies that can adapt and evolve

continues to survive (AMD)• Because you demand more performance, less

power, lower prices• The electronics industry responds with

innovations in technology• And AMD puts it all together and brings those

products to you. 04/21/23 35

Q & A

• Open forum – questions and answers

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