Case Study: EZchip achieves 400 Gbps C-programmable NPU and 1 GHz performance with Synopsys DesignWare ARC 770D

EZchip Develops C-Programmable NPS-400 Network Processor with Synopsys DesignWare ARC 770D Processor

EZchip Semiconductor, a fabless provider of high-performance Ethernet network processors, set out to develop the NPS-400 — a C-programmable, Linux-capable NPU delivering 400 Gbps — but faced tight time-to-market pressures and the need to support Linux/C programming without sacrificing throughput or their legacy TOP core performance. They also required a processor that could be customized with special instructions and configurations to meet demanding carrier and data-center workloads.

Working with Synopsys, EZchip integrated the DesignWare ARC 770D processor, used the ARC nSIM virtual platform, and leveraged Synopsys’ Linux support to add custom instructions and accelerate Linux/SMP development. The result: a 1 GHz, extensible processor platform that enabled a 400 Gbps wire‑speed NPU with up to 256 cores × 16 threads (4K virtual engines), early virtual platform delivery before silicon, and a Linux-based development environment for faster customer deployment.

EZchip

Erez Shaizaf

NPS Project Director