Intel’s Altera unit shares new details about upcoming Agilex 3 chips

Altera today shared new details about Agilex 3, an upcoming series of chips optimized to power connected devices and factory automation systems.

The Intel Corp. unit first previewed the processor line in February alongside a number of other upcoming products. The hardware reveal coincided with a change to Altera’s corporate structure.

The Agilex 3 product series comprises specialized processors called field-programmable gate arrays, or FPGAs. In a standard processor, each set of circuits is optimized for a specific task and can’t be adapted to other computations. FPGAs, in contrast, contain programmable circuits that developers can configure for a variety of tasks. 

The chips’ customizability enables them to provide better performance than standard processors in certain situations. If a company plans to run an artificial intelligence model on its FPGA, it could optimize the module’s programmable circuits for machine learning tasks. Such a configuration would allow the module to run the model faster than an off-the-shelf chip with fewer AI-optimized circuits. 

Developing a processor from scratch for the use case a company is targeting can unlock even bigger performance improvements. However, designing custom silicon is prohibitively expensive for many hardware projects. FGPAs are used in situations where developing a fully custom chip is impractical, but a company still requires a processor tailored to its specific use case.

The FPGAs in the Agilex 3 series are geared towards systems that prioritize power-efficiency over performance. Intel sees the chips finding use in products such as connected devices, industrial robots and autonomous vehicles. 

The chipmaker revealed today that the Agilex 3 series offers 1.9 times better performance than its previous-generation FPGAs. Each chip in the lineup contains 25,000 to 135,000 logic elements, the parts of an FPGA that can be configured by the user for specific tasks. Agilex 3 processors also contain circuits that can’t be reprogrammed, most notably a dual-core central processing unit based on an Arm Holdings plc design. 

The FPGA series’ core processing modules are supported by a number of other components. There are transceivers that can process multimedia files at speeds of up 12.5 gigabits per second. Additionally, Intel has added support for LPDDR4 memory, a type of RAM that is slower than the varieties used in servers but uses less power.

Rounding out the enhancements is a set of new cybersecurity features. To prevent hackers from accessing the data being processed by an Agilex 3 chip, Intel has added an encryption mechanism and an authentication feature for verifying user requests. The company says that its upcoming FPGAs can also detect tempering attempts.  

Alongside the Agilex 3 feature set, Intel today previewed an upcoming release of its Quartus Prime Pro software for customizing FPGAs. The new release supports Agilex 5, a chip line that the company debuted in February alongside the Agilex 3 series. It’s based on a 10-nanometer node and offers up to 60% higher performance per watt than some processors from rivals. 

“Working closely with our ecosystem and distribution partners, Altera remains committed to delivering FPGA-based solutions that empower innovators with leading-edge programmable technologies that are easy to design and deploy,” said Altera Chief Executive Officer Sandra Rivera.

Intel will start shipping Alteryx 3 chips in mid-2025. 

Image: Intel