intels Tile Strategy Faces Challenges as AMD Pursues Chiplet reusability

Meteor Lake, Lunar Lake, Arrow Lake, Sapphire Rapids, Emerald Rapids, or Granite Rapids. these are some of Intel’s most well-known products based on chiplets (or tiles). Despite utilizing three to five types of tiles, no single tile has found use across multiple products. Each is unique and designed for a specific processor.

Reports initially suggested Intel would reuse the central (SoC) tile from Meteor Lake in Arrow Lake. However, despite both being produced on the 6nm TSMC process, the tiles differ in size: Meteor Lake‘s tile measures 96.77 mm, while Arrow Lake‘s is 86.6 mm. These are two distinct designs. It’s possible the Arrow Lake tile originates from an unmanned desktop version of Meteor Lake, differing from the mobile version.Nonetheless, the fact remains that these six products require dozens of unique tile designs, with no shared components.

The cost of producing masks for each unique silicon piece ranges from $10 to $50 million at TSMC, depending on the process and design. Additional expenses include TAPE-OUT, debugging (required for each unique design), and revisions. Each new silicon piece demands design, testing, and consumes both human and financial resources, adding to the time required for growth.

AMD appears to be taking the opposite approach, increasing the number of chiplets usable across its portfolio.

Chiplets and Products with ZEN 6 and RDNA 5 (MLID)

Such as, the upcoming processor featuring 12 cores zen 6, designed for high-performance devices, will be utilized in desktops, servers, and several mobile APUs.

The SoC chiplet MDS1 (4× Zen 6 + 4× Zen 6c + 2× Zen-LP + 8 CU RDNA) can function as a standalone mobile APU for the mid-range, or it can be paired with the aforementioned 12-core Zen 6 chiplet to increase processor power. Alternatively, it can be connected to the AT4 graphics tile with 24 CU RDNA 5 to enhance graphics performance. This allows for three different configurations within the mobile segment alone.

The graphics tile AT4 with 24 CU