Taipei:Taiwanese chip design conglomerate Egis Group has signed strategic partnership and investment agreements with French processor designer SiPearl. This collaboration aims to develop a platform that integrates specialized chips from diverse suppliers.
According to Focus Taiwan, the partnership focuses on the joint development of the Mobius100 central processing unit (CPU) and plans for expansion in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Cindy Chen of Alcor Micro Corp., a subsidiary of Egis Group, highlighted the combination of Egis' chip technology with SiPearl's software and system expertise.
Philippe Notton, CEO of SiPearl, announced at the group's Tech Day event in Taipei that the Mobius100 platform will be leveraged for the second generation of CPUs, intended to accelerate development time. The new processor, named Rhea2, will be based on the Mobius100 architecture. Notton also showcased SiPearl's first-generation Rhea1 processor, which is slated for use in Germany's JUPITER supercomputer.
The Rhea1 processor, manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., has already been delivered to supercomputer maker Bull for integration. Egis Group's strategy includes processor development, chip interconnect technology, and design services, aiming to create a network of compatible components to meet the growing demands of artificial intelligence (AI) computing.
Chen explained that using chiplets, which are individual chips with specialized functions, could reduce development costs by avoiding the need to redesign entire chips. However, these chiplets require further engineering to function together efficiently.
The partnership also involves the creation of a "Chiplet Marketplace" utilizing the Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express (UCIe) standard to integrate components from various suppliers. Egis Group Chairman Steve Lo emphasized the shift in focus from individual nodes to comprehensive platforms and ecosystems in AI and high-performance computing.
Alcor Micro is developing the Mobius100 with technology from Arm's Neoverse Compute Subsystems V3 platform and interconnect technology from InPsytech, a sister company. The timeline targets tape-out by the first quarter of 2027, samples by the end of that year, and mass production in the second half of 2028, contingent on development, validation, and customer needs.
The partnership is long-term, with discussions for cooperation on future chiplet products. Egis is also participating in SiPearl's Series B funding round, though the investment size remains undisclosed. The signing was witnessed by Economics Minister Kung Ming-hsin, Deputy Foreign Minister François Wu, and French Office in Taipei Director Frédéric Laplanche, who praised the agreement as a step toward enhanced semiconductor and AI cooperation between Taiwan and France.