RHEA1, a high performance processor for professional use of Europe, finally reached its phase of Tape Out. This means that its design is finished and manufacturing begins soon, but still the launch estimate was passed to 2026.

The CPU is developing by the EPI (European Processor Initiative) project, and was first announced in 2020. Sipearl is the company leading development, and at first it promised RHEA1 to 2023. With Tape Out only now, these delays should impact RHEA1’s ability to compete.

RHEA1 will be done in the TSMC 6nm process

Part of the delays in the European HPC processor happened due to the team’s indecisions. According to TechPowerup, the team considered different nuclei counts, for example, going from 72 to 64 and then finally deciding by 80.

In the end, the RHEA1 will be made with 80 Norm -based Neoverse V1 centers and manufactured in 6NM TSMC N6 process. It comes with 64GB of HBM2E memory and a DDR5 interface.

Ou seja, são tecnologias consideradas defasada quando falamos em computação de ponta. At first the RHEA1 was planned as a processor that would bring all the more advanced, but its delays quickly faded the product in a segment that evolves stride.

Despite the delays, Rhea1 is still a very important first step for PPE. The processor will be used on the Jupiter supercomputer as planned.

O Jupiter foi feito para usar os Rhea1, mas no momento já funciona com aceleradores Grace Hopper da NVIDIA, estando 80% operacional. Its modular design will allow the “late” arrival of the CPUS, taking advantage of the first generation of the European HPC processor.

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At the same time, since the design of the first generation Rhea has been completed, PPE and Sipearl can already focus on RHEA2. If the new version of the component follows without delays, it is possible to get a debut more aligned with updated cutting -edge technologies.