Andes Technology N25F RISC-V Processor Enables Performance and Low Power for Phison X1 Enterprise SSD Controller

Andes Technology Corp. announces that the AndesCore N25F processor has been adopted by Phison Electronics Corp.’s PCIe Gen4x4 SSD controller X1 (PS5020-E20) for the enterprise SSD market.

The fast and compact N25F provides good balance between performance, area and power, which has made it widely adopted in SoCs demanding performance-efficient embedded controllers.

The AndesCore N25F is a 32-bit CPU IP core based on the AndeStar V5 architecture, which extends but is compatible to the RISC-V architecture. With an optimized 5-stage pipeline design, it can deliver the leading per-MHz performance with energy efficiency. It also has options for its memory subsystem, including instruction and data caches, local memories with low-latency and predictable accesses, and ECC for L1 memory soft error protection. To support flexible SoC construct, the N25F system bus can be configured as 64-bit AXI, 64-bit AHB, or 32-bit AHB, and there is also a slave port for direct local memory reads/writes. These capabilities ensure both speed and security in memory accesses. In addition, the Andes Customer Extension (ACE) framework offers additional flexibility through customized special purpose instructions. With rich features and customized options, the N25F has been popular in the embedded controller market.

The Phison X1 SSD platform, an U.3 PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe SSD, is a product targeting the enterprise SSD market. Its boost in random read IO/s is an evidence for its suitability in AI training and application servers handling thousands of clients. The X1 platform offers higher speed with lower energy consumption in a cost-effective solution that eliminates performance bottlenecks, improves QoS, and delivers high level of data integrity and security for critical business applications. It was also recently awarded the 2023 Taiwan Excellence Award.

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“Phison has been working with Andes for almost a decade, from the previous V3 architecture to the RISC-V based V5 architecture. All AndesCore processors offer an extensive list of configurable options, and the ACE automation tool is very powerful in creating customized instructions that fits our exact needs,” said Vincent Cheng, VP, R&D, Phison.” We are happy to be working with Andes. Through the processor and technical support provided by Andes, it is believed that the two companies will have more possibilities for cooperation in the future.”

“The AndesCore N25F offers efficient performance and flexible configuration, which makes it the perfect choice for performant embedded controllers. Actually, the N25F has been the best-selling RISC-V core., said Dr. Charlie Su, CTO and president, Andes. “We are grateful to work with Phison on many projects. Phison is an ideal customer who continues to develop successful products with Andes processors while providing useful feedbacks on our cores and development tools along the way. We have extended our collaboration to the superscalar D45 core and we expect more successful products from Phison based on AndesCore.”

About Andes Technology
18 years in business and a founding premier member of RISC-V International, it is a publicly-listed company and a supplier of high-performance/low-power 32/64-bit embedded processor IP solutions, and the driving force in taking RISC-V mainstream. Its 5-Gen AndeStar architecture adopted the RISC-V as the base. Its V5 RISC-V CPU families range from tiny 32-bit cores to advanced 64-bit Out-of-Order processors with DSP, FPU, Vector, Linux, superscalar, and/or multi/many-core capabilities. The annual volume of Andes-Embedded SoCs exceeded 3 billion in 2021 and continues to rise. By the end of 2022, the cumulative volume surpassed 12 billion.