SiFive and NVIDIA integrate NVLink Fusion into RISC-V data center solutions for AI

SiFive and NVIDIA announced they are working together to integrate NVIDIA NVLink Fusion into SiFive high performance RISC-V data center solutions. The collaboration brings the flexibility of SiFive RISC-V designs to the NVIDIA AI ecosystem. The integration allows customers to pair NVIDIA GPUs with custom RISC-V CPUs using high bandwidth low latency links. NVIDIA has expanded its NVLink Fusion program to include select third party chipmakers. Intel and Arm previously joined with solutions based on proprietary instruction set architectures. SiFive said the move provides architectural freedom that was not available under restrictive instruction set architectures. The company noted its P870-D processor is the third generation of its out of order CPU design for servers and is now in silicon with lead customers. SiFive supplies the designs as custom intellectual property rather than finished chips. This approach enables multiple end customers to build products optimized for specific AI workloads. SiFive said the partnership directly addresses customer requirements for combining NVIDIA acceleration with RISC-V custom designs.