The HBM4 is compatible with the JEDEC specification JESD270-4 and doubles the memory bandwidth compared to the previous generation of HBM3E IP products. Available now, the Cadence HBM4 PHY and controller IP delivers an impressive performance of 12.8Gbps, with 20% greater power efficiency per bit and 50% better area efficiency while doubling the number of I/Os for higher bandwidth.
The Cadence HBM4 IP offers a PHY and a high-performance controller as a complete memory subsystem solution and will be available as a drop-in hardened macro in the TSMC N3 and N2 technology nodes, while the HBM4 controller will be provided as a soft RTL macro.
The 12.8Gbps data rate exceeds the available HBM4 DRAM device speeds by 60% - giving designers ample system margin, enabling support for potential speed improvements, and future-proofing their SoC products.
According to Cadence, the high-performance, low-latency architecture includes RAS and BIST features for fine-tuning memory subsystem performance in the field for optimal data centre operations. The standard HBM4 IP offering includes support for all ‘flavours’ of interposer design implementation options and lab software for rapid memory subsystem bring-up of customer SoCs.
“The proliferation of generative and agentic AI applications and the resulting increase in AI workloads demand higher memory bandwidth for greater AI hardware system efficiency without further draining power. Cadence’s HBM4 solution addresses this insatiable need for memory bandwidth by providing the highest performance available at 12.8Gbps while maintaining area and power efficiency - key concerns for AI factories,” said Boyd Phelps, senior vice president and general manager of the Silicon Solutions Group at Cadence.
Cadence’s HBM4 solution includes a comprehensive set of deliverables for faster integration of the IP to SoC design and post-silicon bring up.
The deliverables include a reference interposer design validated at 12.8Gbps on a full-featured test chip consisting of an HBM4 controller, PHY, interposer, and HBM4 DRAM device. LabStation software with extensive features and test suites for rapid SoC post-silicon lab bring-up is provided for faster time to market.
Cadence’s HBM4 PHY and controller have been verified with Cadence’s Verification IP (VIP) for HBM4 to provide rapid IP and SoC verification closure. Cadence VIP for HBM4 includes a complete solution from IP to system-level verification with DFI VIP, HBM4 memory model, and System Performance Analyzer.
