Intel x86 hybrid, a processor for pc with big.little design

Intel has taken advantage of its “architecture day” event to show the world one of the company's most exquisite designs in recent years. This is an Intel x86 hybrid chip that draws heavily on ARM's big.LITTLE designs.

Intel x86 hybrid follows ARM steps in SoC design

The new Intel x86 hybrid CPU adopts this design option by combining a high-performance Sunny Cove core with four smaller Atom cores and focused on delivering very low power consumption. This x86 hybrid chip is built using Intel's Foveros manufacturing technology, which means that an IO chip manufactured in 22FFL serves as an active interposer, connecting via TSV a 10nm die containing both types of cores. Its size is only 144 mm², and it seeks to further reduce the footprint by including a POP (package-in-package) memory design.

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The new x86 hybrid design is aimed at low power consumption environments, as the chip has been designed to operate at a reserve power ratio of 2mW, with less than 7W maximum power. This is a great design and a huge achievement for a five-core processor and a powerful Gen11 based 64 EU iGPU. This processor is the work of Jim Keller, the father of AMD's Zen architecture, who said the company is testing the complexities and benefits of this design internally.

This Intel x86 hybrid processor could reach a large number of devices that are currently dominated by the ARM architecture, since its Sunny Cove core will offer much higher performance.

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