The ARM Cortex-A72 is a
central processing unit
A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor, or just processor, is the primary Processor (computing), processor in a given computer. Its electronic circuitry executes Instruction (computing), instructions ...
implementing the
ARMv8-A
ARM (stylised in lowercase as arm, formerly an acronym for Advanced RISC Machines and originally Acorn RISC Machine) is a family of RISC instruction set architectures (ISAs) for computer processors. Arm Holdings develops the ISAs and lice ...
64-bit
instruction set
In computer science, an instruction set architecture (ISA) is an abstract model that generally defines how software controls the CPU in a computer or a family of computers. A device or program that executes instructions described by that ISA, s ...
designed by
ARM Holdings
Arm Holdings plc (formerly an acronym for Advanced RISC Machines and originally Acorn RISC Machine) is a British semiconductor and software design company based in Cambridge, England, whose primary business is the design of central processing ...
'
Austin
Austin refers to:
Common meanings
* Austin, Texas, United States, a city
* Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
* Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters
* Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...
design centre. The Cortex-A72 is a 3-way decode
out-of-order superscalar
A superscalar processor (or multiple-issue processor) is a CPU that implements a form of parallelism called instruction-level parallelism within a single processor. In contrast to a scalar processor, which can execute at most one single in ...
pipeline.
It is available as
SIP core to licensees, and its design makes it suitable for integration with other SIP cores (e.g.
GPU
A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed for digital image processing and to accelerate computer graphics, being present either as a discrete video card or embedded on motherboards, mobile phones, personal ...
,
display controller
A video display controller (VDC), also called a display engine or display interface, is an integrated circuit which is the main component in a video-signal generator, a device responsible for the production of a TV video signal in a computing ...
,
DSP,
image processor
An image processor, also known as an image processing engine, image processing unit (IPU), or image signal processor (ISP), is a type of media processor or specialized digital signal processor (DSP) used for image processing, in digital cameras o ...
, etc.) into one
die constituting a
system on a chip
A system on a chip (SoC) is an integrated circuit that combines most or all key components of a computer or Electronics, electronic system onto a single microchip. Typically, an SoC includes a central processing unit (CPU) with computer memory, ...
(SoC). The Cortex-A72 was announced in 2015 to serve as the successor of the
Cortex-A57, and was designed to use 20% less power or offer 90% greater performance.
Overview
* Pipelined processor with deeply
out-of-order,
speculative issue 3-way
superscalar
A superscalar processor (or multiple-issue processor) is a CPU that implements a form of parallelism called instruction-level parallelism within a single processor. In contrast to a scalar processor, which can execute at most one single in ...
execution pipeline
* DSP and
NEON
Neon is a chemical element; it has symbol Ne and atomic number 10. It is the second noble gas in the periodic table. Neon is a colorless, odorless, inert monatomic gas under standard conditions, with approximately two-thirds the density of ...
SIMD
Single instruction, multiple data (SIMD) is a type of parallel computer, parallel processing in Flynn's taxonomy. SIMD describes computers with multiple processing elements that perform the same operation on multiple data points simultaneousl ...
extensions are mandatory per core
*
VFPv4
ARM (stylised in lowercase as arm, formerly an acronym for Advanced RISC Machines and originally Acorn RISC Machine) is a family of RISC instruction set architectures (ISAs) for computer processors. Arm Holdings develops the ISAs and licen ...
Floating Point Unit onboard (per core)
*
Hardware virtualization
Hardware virtualization is the virtualization of computers as complete hardware platforms, certain logical abstractions of their componentry, or only the functionality required to run various operating systems. Virtualization emulates the hardw ...
support
*
Thumb-2
ARM (stylised in lowercase as arm, formerly an acronym for Advanced RISC Machines and originally Acorn RISC Machine) is a family of reduced instruction set computer, RISC instruction set architectures (ISAs) for central processing unit, com ...
instruction set encoding reduces the size of 32-bit programs with little impact on performance.
*
TrustZone security extensions
* Program Trace Macrocell and CoreSight Design Kit for unobtrusive tracing of instruction execution
* 32 KiB data (2-way set-associative) + 48 KiB instruction (3-way set-associative) L1 cache per core
* Integrated low-latency level-2 (16-way set-associative) cache controller, 512 KB to 4 MB configurable size per cluster
* 48-entry fully associative L1 instruction translation lookaside buffer (TLB) with native support for 4 KiB, 64 KiB, and 1 MB page sizes
* 32-entry fully associative L1 data TLB with native support for 4 KiB, 64 KiB, and 1 MB page sizes
** 4-way set-associative of 1024-entry unified L2 TLB per core, supports hit-under-miss
* Sophisticated branch prediction algorithm that significantly increases performance and reduces energy from misprediction and speculation
* Early IC tag –3-way L1 cache at direct-mapped power*
* Regionalized TLB and μBTB tagging
* Small-offset branch-target optimizations
* Suppression of superfluous branch predictor accesses
Chips
*
Broadcom
Broadcom Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational designer, developer, manufacturer, and global supplier of a wide range of semiconductor and infrastructure software products. Broadcom's product offerings serve the data cen ...
BCM2711 (used in
Raspberry Pi 4
The Raspberry Pi 4 is the fourth generation of the Raspberry Pi flagship series of single-board computers. Developed by Raspberry Pi Holdings and released on 24 June 2019, it introduced significant upgrades over its predecessor. At its core, th ...
)
*
Qualcomm Snapdragon
Snapdragon is a suite of system-on-chip (SoC) semiconductor products for mobile devices designed and marketed by Qualcomm, who often refers to these SoCs as "mobile platforms". They typically integrate central processing units (CPU) based o ...
650, 652, and 653
*
NXP i.MX8, Layerscape LS1026A/LS1046A, LS2044A/LS2084A, LS2048A/LS2088A, LX2160A/LX2120A/LX2080A, LS1028A
*
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American multinational semiconductor company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It is one of the top 10 semiconductor companies worldwide based on sales volume. The company's focus is on developing analog ...
Jacinto 7 family of automotive and industrial SoC processors.
*
Rockchip
Rockchip (Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics Co., Ltd.) is a Chinese fabless semiconductor company based in Fuzhou, Fujian province. It has offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Hong Kong. It designs system on a chip (SoC) products, usi ...
RK3399
*
AWS Graviton
AWS Graviton is a family of 64-bit computing, 64-bit ARM architecture, ARM-based CPUs designed by the Amazon Web Services (AWS) subsidiary Annapurna Labs. The processor family is distinguished by its lower energy use relative to x86-64, static clo ...
See also
*
ARM Cortex-A57
The ARM Cortex-A57 is a central processing unit implementing the ARMv8-A 64-bit instruction set designed by ARM Holdings. The Cortex-A57 is an out-of-order superscalar pipeline. It is available as SIP core to licensees, and its design makes i ...
, predecessor
*
ARM Cortex-A73
The ARM Cortex-A73 is a central processing unit implementing the ARMv8-A 64-bit instruction set designed by ARM Holdings' Sophia design centre. The Cortex-A73 is a 2-wide decode out-of-order superscalar pipeline. The Cortex-A73 serves as the su ...
, successor
*
Comparison of ARMv8-A cores
This is a comparison of ARM instruction set architecture application processor cores designed by Arm Holdings (ARM Cortex-A) and 3rd parties. It does not include ARM Cortex-R, ARM Cortex-M, or legacy ARM cores.
ARMv7-A
This is a table com ...
, ARMv8 family
References
External links
*
ARM Cortex-A72 Technical Reference Manuals
{{Application ARM-based chips
ARM processors