蘋果對外招聘RISC-V工程師，或欲節省每年數百萬美元的ARM專利費

{"type":"doc","content":[{"type":"blockquote","content":[{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"蘋果正在向更加自主可控的芯片研發道路邁進。"}]}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":2},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"蘋果招聘 RISC-V 工程師"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"近日，蘋果發佈"},{"type":"link","attrs":{"href":"https:\/\/jobs.apple.com\/en-us\/details\/200282667\/risc-v-high-performance-programmer","title":"xxx","type":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"招聘啓事"}]},{"type":"text","text":"稱正在爲其核心操作系統團隊的 Vector and Numerics Group (VaNG) 小組尋找對 RISC-V 指令集架構 (ISA) 和 ARM 的 Neon vector ISA 有詳細瞭解且有豐富經驗的開發者。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"image","attrs":{"src":"https:\/\/static001.geekbang.org\/wechat\/images\/5b\/5b15135010e73c0e0f724054e7d3c7e3.jpeg","alt":null,"title":null,"style":null,"href":null,"fromPaste":false,"pastePass":false}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"RISC-V 是一種開源指令集架構（ISA），允許設備製造商在不支付許可證或版稅的情況下設計、製造和銷售 RISC-V 芯片和軟件。RISC-V 比 ARM 更晚出現，但 RISC-V 的架構設計比 ARM 更爲精簡，同時 RISC-V 還有模塊化的特點，非常適合物聯網等等新的應用，目前 RISC-V 很多的創新都是通過用戶在現有的指令架構上面增加指令子集的方式來實現的。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"ARM 的芯片設計則是基於早期 RISC 架構。ARM 將這種設計授權給多家芯片廠商，而此類芯片幾乎被用於所有智能手機。在桌面和服務器市場，既有芯片架構的地位非常牢固。正因如此，媒體猜測蘋果此舉旨在節省每年數百萬美元的專利費用，畢竟蘋果使用 ARM 內核的設備越來越多，其需要支付的費用也越來越多。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"根據招聘廣告，這名工程師將在蘋果產品上採用“創新的 RISC-V 解決方案和最先進的程序”。具體地說，蘋果希望未來的工程師能夠使用 RISC-V 指令集，並瞭解 ARM。該招聘僅可表明蘋果正在探索 RISC-V 的使用，但最終是否決定採用這項開源技術以及是否會用其替代現有芯片架構都是未知的。"}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":2},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"蘋果在芯片設計上逐步擺脫外部依賴"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"過去一年，蘋果放棄英特爾轉而投向自研芯片的事情引起了業界的廣泛關注。"},{"type":"link","attrs":{"href":"https:\/\/www.infoq.cn\/article\/ULKfa6cJ1uVzME9JQhJm","title":"xxx","type":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"M1 "}]},{"type":"text","text":"是蘋果首款自研芯片，於 2020 年年底正式對外發布，並首次加持在 Mac 上。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"雖然早在 2020 年 6 月的 WWDC 大會上，蘋果就已經宣佈將發佈採用自研芯片的新一代 Macbook 系列產品，但彼時並沒有透露過多的細節。直到 2020 年 11 月 11 日，隨着一系列新產品的亮相，蘋果 M1 芯片的詳細參數和性能表現也走到臺前。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"蘋果方面表示，M1 芯片搭載了許多世界頂級工藝的產品，包括世界上最快的 CPU 內核、最快的 IGPU。“蘋果花了十幾年的時間來創造和優化 Apple 芯片，因爲芯片是 iPhone、iPad 和 Apple Watch 的核心。現在我們希望將其引入 Mac，因此 Mac 可以憑藉令人難以置信的性能、自定義技術和行業領先的芯片來實現巨大的飛躍。”"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"蘋果公司認爲，M1 是迄今爲止性能最高的芯片，並且低功耗高效內核可提供與當前基於英特爾的雙核 MacBook Air 相似的性能。當然，高性能內核要快得多。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"遵循長期以來生產 ARM 芯片的標準，CPU 由四個大內核和四個小內核組成。大內核共享 12MB 的 L2 緩存，小內核共享 4MB 的 L2。兩種內核共同工作時，當限於 10W TDP 時，它們的速度是“最新 PC 筆記本電腦芯片”的兩倍，並且如果散熱足夠好，它們的運行速度甚至會更快。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"在 GPU 方面，M1 將具有多達八個內核和 128 個執行單元。它能夠處理多達 24576 個併發線程，且峯值性能爲 2.6 teraflops。蘋果公司認爲，這將使 Mac 擁有全世界筆記本電腦中最快的集成圖形體驗。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"值得注意的是，M1 的 16 核神經網絡引擎，每秒可以完成 11 萬億次運算，機器學習性能大幅提升。機器上還有先進的媒體編碼 \/ 解碼引擎以及圖像信號處理器。蘋果的 Secure Enclave 也嵌入到芯片組中，不需要單獨的 T2 芯片。與大多數非英特爾平臺不同的是，新的芯片組支持 Thunderbolt，因此蘋果用戶將能夠繼續使用快速的外部存儲和其他配件。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"半年之內，M1 芯片已用在 MacBook、iMac、iPad Pro 多款產品上。隨着 M1 芯片成爲蘋果產品線的標配，蘋果生態內硬件性能得到進一步提升，軟件生態維度也得以擴充，逐步擺脫了對英特爾的依賴。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"如今看來，蘋果可能已經在籌劃更徹底的擺脫外部限制，進一步降低成本，從開源的 RISC-V 架構下手。兩者相較，ARM 是一個完全私有化、封閉式的指令機器；而 RISC-V 更像是 Linux ，由完全中立的國際組織擁有，是一個完全開放的架構。這樣的特點讓 RISC-V 受到了衆多開發者和企業的關注。"}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":2},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"RISC-V 值得押注嗎？"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"最近幾年，業界也常常有人把 "},{"type":"link","attrs":{"href":"https:\/\/www.infoq.cn\/article\/oelkCJXG5zO*wOgZJjtP","title":"xxx","type":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"RISC-V"}]},{"type":"text","text":" 稱作“中國半導體行業最後一次趕超歐美的希望”。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"目前的國際 CPU 市場，由兩個指令集架構“獨裁者”佔據：以英特爾爲主的 x86 架構和 ARM 推行的 ARM 架構。儘管也曾有過類似 MIPS、PowerPC 等指令集架構的一時風光，但其規模仍難及兩個多年經營的龐然大物。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"2010 年，開源指令集架構 RISC-V 首次出現在美國加州大學伯克利分校，其開源架構的形式很快就吸引了包括 IBM、恩智浦、WeaternDigital、NVIDIA、Qualcomm、三星、Google、華爲、Tesla 等各大廠商的加盟。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"面對 RISC-V 的迅猛發展，同樣基於精簡指令集（RISC）原則的 ARM 架構受到了不小的影響，面對 RISC-V 巨大的潛力，ARM 公司就曾建立專門網站，從“成本、生態系統、碎片化風險、安全性、設計保證”五個方面攻擊 RISC-V 。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"時至今日，該網站早已以失敗告終，而 RISC-V 在廣大業界志願者的支持下，仍然煥發着蓬勃生機，且 RISC-V 被認爲更加“自主可控”。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"RISC-V 的優勢，在於其包含了 CPU 發展過程中優秀的創新點，在技術上非常完備。因爲“年輕”，它不僅非常精簡，而且沒有所謂的“歷史包袱”。比如，一個技術手冊，由於 ARM 和英特爾都需要與自己的上一代產品兼容，可能需要 2000 多頁，而 RISC-V 卻只需要幾百頁。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"RISC-V 架構具有簡單和靈活的特性，非常適合部署到物聯網、控制器、數據中心的專用芯片和邊緣計算等應用場景。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"但對於移動端和 PC 端市場而言，RISC-V 的生態遠未成熟到與英特爾、ARM 等“技術大鱷”相匹敵的地步。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"此外，RISC-V 強調完全開源的設計，並且讓取用者可任意加上專屬指令集，甚至可以自由選擇將架構封閉還是維持開源。這樣就導致了 RISC-V 架構與過去的 MIPS 架構出現了同樣問題：雖然擁有更多的指令集，卻無法共用。當各個公司做出具有本身公司特色的芯片時，如果他們選擇將自己的專屬指令集保密，那麼若干年後，很可能出現芯片互不兼容的情況，而這樣的碎片化問題往往是不利於產業發展的。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"不過，隨着越來越多的廠商和開發者加入 RISC-V 的陣營，其生態逐漸豐富，已經佔據開源指令集架構的主流，是目前很多渴望研發“自主可控”芯片廠商很好的選擇，相信未來會出現很好的示例。"}]}]}