GLOBALFOUNDRIES (GF) announced today at its Global Technology Conference the availability of 12LP+, an upgrade of the company's base 12LP platform, designed for AI training and inference applications.

Derived from GF’s existing 12nm Leading Performance (12LP) platform, GF’s new 12LP+ provides either a 20% increase in performance or a 40% reduction in power requirements over the 12LP platform, plus a 15% improvement in logic area scaling. A key feature is a high-speed, low-power 0.5V SRAM bit cell that supports the fast, power-efficient shuttling of data between processors and memory, an important requirement for AI applications in the computing and wired infrastructure markets.

Other key features of 12LP+ are a design reference package for AI applications and design/technology co-development (DTCO) services. Another key feature is a new interposer for 2.5D packages, which facilitates the integration of high-bandwidth memory with processors for fast data processing.

The 12LP+ solution makes use of Arm® Artisan physical IP as well as POP IP for AI applications, developed for GF by Arm. Both solutions from Arm will also be applied to GF’s original 12LP platform.

The 12LP+ PDK is available now and GF is already working with several clients. Tape outs are expected in the second half of 2020 and volume production is set for 2021 from GF’s Fab 8 in Malta, New York.