ADTechnology was selected as the first domestic industry partner for ARM’s total design program last year. It is significant that they have seized an important opportunity to ride the changing tide of the global server market.
It is meaningful in that it has laid the foundation for accelerating domestic and international orders by joining the Neoverse Computing Subsystem (CSS)-based ecosystem that is spreading globally. Total Design Program refers to a service that supports integrated semiconductor development and foundry (outsourcing production) process optimization based on NeoVerse CSS.
Arm is now pioneering the server market that Intel has dominated so far and is drawing a picture of confronting Intel, and is building the Neoverse CSS ecosystem. For example, in one server, a total of Intel central processing units (CPUs) with 36-64 memory, communication devices such as network interfaces are included. Similarly, Arm will also license and sell the design platform Neoverse CSS, which is made by attaching memory such as Double Data Rate (DDR) and high-speed interfaces around the ARM CPU.
Executive Director Kim Seon-min said, “Until now, only Intel and AMD had made servers, but now Microsoft (MS), Google, and Meta have come forward to make their own servers,” and, “These companies are now building servers with the Neoverse CSS platform instead of Intel or AMD CPUs.” He explained, “Customers who want to use ARM’s Neoverse CSS license and use Samsung Foundry are designated by ARM to seek help from design houses like ADTechnology.”
As it evolved into a supercomputer, server design has become so complex that it is impossible for ARM alone to support customers. For example, in order for ARM to help Google build servers, it would need to support 30 engineers, which would result in a lack of manpower to support other customers. This is why ARM felt the importance of the ecosystem and selected ADTechnology as one of its partners.
Executive Director Kim said, “It is difficult for companies like Google and Meta to design servers directly, so they outsource to specialized companies in the field of semiconductor design automation (EDA) and IP. It is not easy for ADTechnology to compete with Google and Meta right now, so we are targeting the data processing accelerator (DPU) market first,” he said. “Ultimately, we are looking at big tech companies such as Meta and Amazon. If we build up from the DPU, the way the market views us will completely change.”
AD Technology is expected to pour its efforts into increasing its recognition and presence in the global server market as it joins the Neoverse CSS ecosystem.
Lee Yoon-seop, Executive Director of Strategic Marketing, said, “Samsung Electronics is very famous in the global market, but even DSPs are not familiar with AD Technology. We have been continuously exploring overseas customers in the US, Europe, China, etc. for the past 4 years, and our name is starting to become known among customers.” He added, “I believe that by gradually building up a track record like this, we can contribute to changing the foundry landscape from TSMC to Samsung.”