Agilex Line - Intel 10nm FPGA

Literally following the 10-nm processors, Ice Lake Intel is releasing a new generation of its FPGAs, also produced using the 10-nm process technology. The new series is called Intel Agilex ; according to the tradition dating back to Altera, it is divided into several classes of devices for various applications. This post is a general overview of the entire Agilex line.







We live in a world of cloud services, self-learning systems and wireless networks, where the speed of data exchange and processing is constantly increasing, and delays should decrease. The new Intel Agilex FPGAs meet all the requirements of today and will not give up their positions tomorrow. We list the distinguishing features of the new line.

• Compute Express Link. These are the first FPGAs supporting the new Compute Express Link (CXL) cache and memory connectivity technology used in future generations of Intel Xeon Scalable processors.
• Second-generation HyperFlex architecture. Up to 40% faster performance and less power than Intel Stratix 10 FPGAs.
• Innovation at DSP. The first and only FPGAs yet that support BFLOAT16 in hardware, the Digital Signal Processor performance is up to 40 TFLOPS.
• Support for the Peripheral Component Interconnect express (PCIe) Gen 5 standard. Higher data transfer speed than PCIe Gen 4.
• The speed of the transceivers. Support for 112 Gb / s transceivers for 400GE and higher data networks.
• Extended memory support. Support for DDR4, upcoming DDR5, HBM and Intel Optane DC persistent memory.

The Intel Agilex family contains three classes of devices.

• Intel Agilex F-Series. The FPGA and SoC of this series is characterized by support for 58 Gb / s transceivers, advanced DSP capabilities, high integration and Intel Hyperflex Gen2 architecture. They are intended for use in data centers and network devices. It is also possible to integrate FPGAs with the 4-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor to perform a wider range of tasks.
• Intel Agilex I-Series. The SoC and FPGA of this series are optimized for high-load systems that transmit a large amount of data. Their special features are the ability to connect to Intel Xeon processors using the Compute Express Link bus, hardware support for PCIe Gen 5 and transceivers with a capacity of up to 112 Gb / s.
• Intel Agilex M-Series. The SoC and FPGA of this series are designed for applications that require computing power and memory performance. Their characteristics: direct connection to Intel Xeon processors, support for HBM, integrated DDR5 controller, support for Intel Optane DC persistent memory.

Intel Agilex FPGA Technical Specifications at Intel:

• Intel Agilex F-Series
• Intel Agilex I-Series
• Intel Agilex M-Series (coming soon)

We will continue to talk about Intel Agilex FPGAs as we receive interesting technical data regarding them.