AmpereOne-3 processor coming next year: 256 cores, 3nm process, supports PCIe 6.0 & DDR5

According to a report by The Next Platform, Ampere’s CEO Jeff Wittich has disclosed plans to launch the next-generation AmpereOne-2 processor later this year, featuring upgraded “A2” cores and supporting twelve memory channels. Ampere anticipates that the increased number of memory controllers will enhance memory bandwidth by 50%, thereby substantially boosting performance.

Ampere’s roadmap reveals the development of the forthcoming AmpereOne-3 processor, scheduled for release in 2025, boasting 256 cores. The company views Chiplets design as a crucial component of its future strategy, intending to employ optimized “A2+” cores on the AmpereOne-3, which will contain either two or four small chips, each with either 128 or 64 cores, akin to Amazon’s Graviton4 released last year.

Jeff Wittich notes that Ampere is progressing rapidly in computing, with the AmpereOne-3 design also incorporating numerous other cloud functionalities, including performance management to fully utilize all these cores. Each chip iteration sees improvements in the processor’s cores, incorporating numerous enhancements that result in higher performance, greater efficiency, and additional features, such as enhanced security—all at the microarchitecture level. Moreover, Ampere has made significant efforts to ensure excellent performance consistency across all AmpereOne chips.

It is understood that the AmpereOne-3 processor will be manufactured using TSMC’s 3nm process, further increasing the number of DDR5 memory channels, and may also support the PCIe 6.0 standard, which could significantly aid artificial intelligence (AI) inference workloads. Ampere aims to compete with the industry’s leading contenders through this new chip.