Nvidia Ships Over a Billion RISC-V Cores in GPUs
In brief
- Nvidia revealed that it shipped over a billion RISC-V cores in 2024, hidden within its GPU architectures.
- These cores aren't used for graphics processing but handle tasks like power management and security.
- Each GPU has between 10 to 40 of these cores, which are cryptographically verified to prevent tampering.
- Before adopting RISC-V, Nvidia relied on proprietary Falcon cores since 2005, shipping around three billion by 2016.
- These cores managed various functions but faced issues with Linux compatibility due to firmware signature requirements.
- This shift underscores the growing role of open standards like RISC-V in embedded computing.
- As GPUs become more complex, the use of standardized instruction sets may expand further.
Terms in this brief
- RISC-V
- An open-source instruction set architecture (ISA) used for designing CPUs and other processors. RISC-V is known for its simplicity and flexibility, making it a popular choice for embedded systems and open hardware projects.
- GPU architectures
- The design and structure of graphics processing units (GPUs), which are specialized electronic circuits designed to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer. Modern GPUs are also commonly used for general-purpose computing tasks due to their highly parallel structure.
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