The 48-core CPU (Central Processing Unit) of Russian company Baikal Electronics has been spotted online. It should be noted that this product will never be on the market, and most players will not be able to purchase it due to the multiple sanctions imposed on Russia. However, the use of this CPU in the storage system provided by Eliptech is significant for the computing industry.
It should be noted that this storage system, photographed by the Russian media company CNews, is based on a very limited version of the Baikal CPU. Furthermore, Twitter user Fritzchens Fritz has thrown the CPU under an infrared microscope to give a good look at the processor’s internals.
Intel and AMD chips are rarely available in Russia due to the current sanctions, which is why Baikal has never invested in mass-producing the chip. Moreover, Loongson chips were announced exclusively for the Chinese market. Thus, 140 million people inhabiting Russia may face microprocessor scarcity.
More details about Baikal’s 48-core CPU and recent developments surrounding it
The Baikal CPU in question is based on the company’s server-grade SoC BE-S1000. It has 48 Arn Cortex-A75 cores clocked at 2.50GHz each. The SoC consumes 120W of power in total. When compared to modern server-level workstation systems from companies such as Intel and AMDIt’s a little weak. This is evidenced by the expansion slots and overall performance of the BE-S1000.
la compañía Baikal Electronics, respaldada by Gobierno de Rusia desarrolló el Baikal BE-S1000, una CPU de 48 nucleos Arm. Ahora sabemos que Rusia ha querido dar un paso y han desarrollado la primera placa base que usará esta CPU Baikal-S y hasta 768 GB of RAM. https://t.co/8NrsKEhc6L
The SoC is paired with six memory interfaces, each supporting up to 128GB of memory. These interfaces are 72 bits wide each. In total, they can support up to 768 GB of DDR4-3200 ECC memory. Other connectivity options include two Gigabit Ethernet ports, USB 2.0 connectors, and up to four x4 ports PCIe Gen4 and four U.2 expansion slots.
The BE-S1000 has recently been used by Eliptech in a storage system, which is It said The first commercial application of the chip. It should be noted that Eliptech is a state-backed entity operating in Russia that is developing technologies to drive banking and cloud services operations in the country.
The introduction of the BE-S1000 into the Eliptech storage system could mean one thing for the entire computing market. In the coming years, the company could expand its presence in Russia first, and then it could slowly operate more server level systems in other markets.
However, this best-case scenario may not happen anytime soon. Baikal CPU It was supposed to be based on TSMC’s 16FFC manufacturing technology. However, after multiple sanctions applied to the country, all shipments to Russia were stopped.
Thus, at the moment, the biggest question is: How did Baikal manage to charge the final CPU? If Eliptech’s storage system relies on a CPU from existing inventory, Baikal may not be able to mass-produce the BE-S1000 anymore, which could indicate that the Russian microprocessor industry has already hit a dead end before takeoff.