How often do new series of FPGAs come out (xilinx)

[Dmeads]

I really like the 7 series FPGAs from xilinx.

Just wondering how long it usually takes to make another series, like how long until the 8 series comes out?

i think the 7 series were introduced in 2010, so how long will they still be used?

thanks.

[OwO]

FPGAs are now falling way behind in terms of progress compared to everything else. 7 series, ultrascale, and ultrascale+ are all based on the Virtex 6 architecture that came out like 20 years ago, with very few changes. Process nodes are also old - 7 series is 28nm, ultrascale/ultrascale+ are newer but priced out of most markets. You can get a latest 7nm GPU with HBM for under $1000. A 7nm FPGA + HBM dev board costs as much as a house, and to get it you have to sign a bunch of paperwork (export restrictions).

Last time I did some benchmarks and rough calculations on performance per watt of doing large FFTs (for example for prime95), and comparing with published GPU numbers I inferred that a cluster of Zynqs can match the radeon vii (the highest ranked GPU in terms of prime95 performance per watt) in both power efficiency and cost. If a 28nm FPGA with external DDR3 can match the efficiency of the latest HBM GPU, FPGAs on newer processes + HBM would be able to do far better.
However the sorry state of affairs in FPGA progress, partly due to Altera getting acquired and killed leaving no competition for Xilinx, means we likely won't see FPGAs on proper process nodes becoming accessible any time soon.

[jmelson]

Xilinx is still very much producing the Spartan 3A, and the XC9500XL series, although they have dropped certain FPGA size vs. package combinations
in the Spartan line.  These are REALLY old products, but because people are buying them in quantity, they are keeping them in production.

Jon

[gorbag]

Here's the latest I'm aware of from Xilinx:

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/xilinx-shipping-versal-acap-ai-prime,39661.html

Versal is a "new" architecture, in that it contains specialized compute engines to allow entry into various markets. They recently announced they will be a supplier of Versal to Samsung for 5G.

Xilinx is unlikely to "pre-announce" an 8-series since it would affect sales of their current line. However I would not be surprised to see some of the innovations of Versal moving downline in a new series in the foreseeable future. If you note, the Virtex was first introduced in 2011 but the lower cost parts came out later. Spartan-7 was introduced in 2017 for instance. It's possible Versal is the equivalent of Virtex for a new line of FPGAs over the next several years.

[dietert1]

Thanks for the update. As far as i understand the basic FPGA cell as we knew it seems to develop into an deep learning inference node. Is that true?

Regards, Dieter

[mrflibble]

As far as i understand the basic FPGA cell as we knew it seems to develop into an deep learning inference node. Is that true?

We can only hope!