UCIe as the Cornerstone of the Chiplet Industry

By: Shanghai UniVista Industrial Software Group Co., Ltd.

While the soaring wave of applications such as AI, HPC and ADAS are driving an exponential increase in computing demands, the architectural complexity of computing systems is rapidly growing. Traditional monolithic SoC architectures are quickly approaching their physical and economic limits. Meanwhile, due to the capacity and regional distribution imbalances of advanced process nodes, system-level heterogeneous integration of chiplets with different functions and process technologies based on advanced packaging technology has become the mainstream design paradigm for high-performance chips. This approach brings significant advantages across multiple dimensions, including design flexibility, system performance optimization, and optimal TCO.

With an open and collaborative specifications philosophy, the UCIe Consortium has become the most accessible chiplet technology route. As the direct embodiment of the UCIe specification, UCIe IP is rapidly evolving into the fundamental chiplet infrastructure supporting high-performance computing systems. As a UCIe IP Vendor, UniVista firmly believes that adoption of UCIe specifications across products will be the cornerstone of the rapid development and mass deployment of the UCIe open chiplet ecosystem. The capability and competitiveness of UCIe IP products depend on four core dimensions:

1. Profound understanding of the specification

The UCIe specification encompasses the complete technology stack, ranging from the physical layer to the adapter layer and protocol layer. While a deep grasp of the specification and compliant design form the foundation, the true challenge lies in transforming the UCIe specification into IP products that are market-ready, reusable, deliverable, and mass-producible. For instance, this involves the co-optimization of the PHY and adapter to achieve low BER over high-speed links. Refined flow control and congestion management mechanisms, ensures stability and efficiency in complex system environments requiring high bandwidth and low latency data transmission.

2. Precise product definition based on industry insights

Product definition relies on a deep understanding of industry application requirements and trends. Different scenarios present significantly different system performance demands: AI training and inference systems pursue extreme bandwidth and scalability; HPC systems emphasize low latency and high parallel communication; while ADAS systems focus more on real-time performance and functional safety. Concurrently, the rapid iteration of large AI models requires efficient adaptation via new computing architectures. Driven by forward-looking insights, companies must formulate precise product definitions and architectural designs with broad industry applicability. This ensures that the UCIe IP is not merely "functional," but is optimized to be highly usable, stable, and sustainable for the long term.

3. Sophisticated engineering implementation

From IP product definition to architecture design, and analog PHY design to digital controller design, sophisticated engineering implementation is a comprehensive engineering effort of circuits and systems. By building a unified IP infrastructure for parametric design and module expansion, the IP can be rapidly optimized for different scenarios. Through continuous multi-physics co-optimization involving SI, PI, EMI, thermal, and stress aspects, sophisticated engineering implementation determines the comprehensive functional and performance advantages of UCIe IP. It brings not only high configurability and flexibility but also high performance, high reliability, and high compatibility. For example, robust CRC and retry mechanisms ensure stable operation under complex PVT variations, as well as interoperability compatibility across different process nodes and packaging technologies.

4. Strong open ecosystem

UCIe IP relies on extensive ecosystem collaboration across the industry chain—including foundries, advanced packaging, EDA tools, and NoC interconnects—to deliver mature, industry-grade solutions. Full maturity is achieved through silicon validation across various process nodes, close strategic ecosystem collaboration with multiple foundry partnerships , as well as large-scale mass production for diverse industrial application. By co-modeling and co-simulating with packaging and EDA vendors, channel design optimization and equalization strategies can enhance link stability. Concurrently, the UCIe technology platform is being integrated with DRAM, NAND Flash, and CPO technologies, continuously expanding the boundaries of innovative UCIe applications.

The vitality of a standard depends on the positive feedback loop of the industrial ecosystem. Looking ahead, as AI applications accelerate their expansion, high-performance computing systems will place higher demands on UCIe technology, like stronger support for cache coherency, memory semantics, system-level scheduling, and enhanced security and reliability. The UCIe ecosystem will continue to evolve toward higher bandwidth, lower latency, lower power, and superior system capabilities. As a UCIe IP vendor, UniVista remains dedicated to contributing to technical standards and strengthening our IP product capabilities, and looks forward to working with industry partners to drive the development of the UCIe ecosystem, providing high-performance, highly reliable, and highly compatible interconnect infrastructure for the era of intelligent computing.

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About UniVista

Shanghai UniVista Industrial Software Group Co., Ltd. ("UniVista") is an EDA, IP and design solutions provider committed to serving semiconductor companies worldwide. UniVista has achieved multidimensional development in digital implementation EDA tools, IP design, and system-level & advanced packaging-level design domains, introducing multiple independently self-developed EDA and IP products. The high-performance IP portfolio covers full-stack interconnect solutions, including Chiplet, Scale-up, and Scale-out as well as high-performance memory controller solutions such as HBM and LPDDR/DDR. UniVista is deeply committed to the development of the UCIe standard and ecosystem. By providing chip design enterprises with easy-to-use, high-performance, highly reliable, and highly compatible UCIe IP products and solutions, UniVista has achieved widespread market adoption. Chip design companies can rapidly acquire mature interconnect capabilities to build chiplet-based heterogeneous computing SoC systems, significantly accelerating the time to market.