The Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS) has presented the first functional prototypes of its server CPU, the TC1. This processor, based on the open RISC-V architecture, has been manufactured on Intel 3 nodes. The milestone shows that Europe can design high-performance chips, achieving Linux boot and operating with technologies such as PCIe 5.0 and DDR5.
Technical Details of the TC1 Prototype and Its Manufacturing 🔧
The approximately 500 TC1 prototypes operate at frequencies around 1.25 GHz. The design incorporates support for DDR5 memory and the PCI Express 5.0 bus, current standards for servers. Its manufacturing in Intel's foundry, using its Intel 3 process, validates the viability of this production route for European designs. This step is technically solid, although it is still far from commercial mass production.
Europe Seeks Its Independence... with a Bit of American Help 🤔
The path to European technological sovereignty has its paradoxes. To demonstrate that they do not depend on proprietary Asian architectures, they have created an RISC-V chip... that depends on Intel's foundry, an American company. It's like declaring food independence by growing tomatoes in the neighbor's garden. A necessary first step, but true autonomy is still far away.