Case Study: Cerebras achieves real-time thermal and power optimization of its WSE-2 with Synopsys DesignWare in-chip sensors and monitors

DesignWare In-Chip Temperature Sensors and Voltage Monitors deployed in Cerebras Systems WSE-2 chip

Cerebras Systems developed the Wafer-Scale Engine 2 (WSE-2), a massive 46,225 mm² silicon chip built from 84 stitched die to accelerate giant AI models. As model sizes and cluster scale grew, Cerebras faced escalating distribution complexity and needed precise, real-time monitoring of thermal and supply conditions to manage hotspots, IR drops, synchronization and performance/power trade-offs across the wafer.

Cerebras deployed Synopsys DesignWare in‑chip temperature sensors and voltage monitors distributed across the WSE-2 (8 temperature sensors and 8 monitors per die, totaling 672 temperature sensors and 10,752 voltage sense points per wafer) with fast polling and watermarks. The solution enabled heat maps, in‑cluster thermal throttling, validation and characterization throughout design-to-field lifecycle, improving thermal predictability, performance-per-watt, voltage margin visibility and overall silicon health while accelerating development through Synopsys technical support.

Cerebras

Dhiraj Mallick

Senior Vice President, Hardware Engineering and Operations