2024-01-02 16:30:00
In the semiconductor world, he is said to put fairy dust on the processors he develops. More discreet than the star Jim Keller (AMD, Apple, etc.), this magician behind the CPU cores of Apple’s M1 chip and the new Snapdragon X Elite has a name that is probably foreign to you: Gerard Williams III. A suffix with the scent of royal lineage which bothers him, especially when passing through airports, he explains to us with a laugh, but the opposite of what the man lets appear.
If he seems confident, it is in relative nonchalance. Nothing regarding him exudes arrogance. The only clue that indicates his star status is the court formed around him as soon as he arrives in a demo room at the Snapdragon Summit, which Qualcomm organized at the end of October 2023 to showcase its chips, including the much-hyped Snapdragon X Elite. Around him, a horde of analysts and other journalists ask him regarding this choice, such CPU technologies. Everyone wants to know the master’s opinion.
Gerard Williams’ public speeches are all the more valuable because they are rare and short (here at the Snapdragon Summit 2023).
© Adrian Branco / Les Numériques
Before our exclusive interview, the press officer explains to us politely, but firmly, that“we can’t talk regarding the two A’s”. These two A’s stand for Apple and ARM, two hot topics in the processor market. Concerning Apple, the man is undoubtedly legally bound until his death to secrecy regarding his achievements for the firm. As for ARM, if Qualcomm and the British entity are not at the stage of the legal procedure, the closed session around the architecture license acquired by Qualcomm during the acquisition of Nuvia is still required.
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Deprived of “hot” questions, what to ask this genius of transistors? We come simply and naturally to: where does his magic come from?
From the world of milliwatts
On stage, Gerard Williams is assured in his words, but stingy with technical details.
© Adrian Branco / Les Numériques
“Some say I put fairy dust on the processors or that I violate the laws of physics!”, laughs the fifty-year-old. If we understand from the first minutes of the interview that we are dealing with an outstanding engineer – his mind seems to work even faster than the CPU cores he develops – he explains his success less by his studies than by his professional experiences. .
“Like the others, I learned regarding the structure of processors at university, but my background in industry probably explains a lot regarding the way I operatehe believes. I come from the world of designing ultra-low power chips and that has shaped my mind and my way of doing things.” This scale of “very low consumption”man directly measures it: “Be careful, I’m not talking regarding watts here, but milli, or even microwatts. One of the mantras when I was designing controllers was : ‘if only I had 2 W!’”
Williams’ work resides within the Snapdragon X Elite. Part of this PC chip is a CPU made up of 12 Oryon cores, which Qualcomm promises will be both ultra-powerful and energy efficient.
© Adrian Branco / Les Numériques
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That “totally changes the way of seeing depending on whether you start your career with a starting point in milliwatts or directly at 50 W. And if the fundamentals of chip design are well learned at university, like their architecture, memory distribution or calculation pipelines, we must also understand that a good part of the know-how in semiconductors is secret. This is therefore not learned in classrooms, but in [labos des] companies”admits the engineer.
Qualcomm hopes that the processor cores developed by G. Williams’ team will give it the power/watt ratio necessary to shake up established players Intel and AMD.
© Adrian Branco / Les Numériques
Which does not mean that it has no merit and that you just have to fall into the right company when starting out: “What we learn at university, we must use it in companies to build and test what we have learned. But you have to do it relentlessly, analyze the data and constantly seek to improve your designs.” At this point in the interview, Gerard Williams is no longer smiling, his passion begins to appear in his eyes, now very intense.
Devourer of scientific articles and “island binder”
Qualcomm assures that its Oryon CPU developed by G. Williams is capable of shaking up Intel and Apple. An important deal, particularly for Microsoft which intends to stem the flight of its users towards Macs.
© Adrian Branco / Les Numériques
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This relentlessness has still not left him since his beginnings in the industry which, far from having satisfied him, pushed him to always ask questions. “At first, I worked on graphics chips and even thought regarding designing a GPU before they were even popularized”, he admits. What changed his course? Curiosity : “I got into CPU design because I wanted to understand the relationships between software programs and the chip itself.”
The promises of the chip are tempting, but we will have to wait for the first implementations in real machines to judge whether Qualcomm has succeeded.
© Adrian Branco / Les Numériques
His fundamental approach therefore consists of reading scientific articles, or rather devouring them as much as possible. This bulimic of scientific literature confides: “I absolutely read every paper I can. Not just on CPUs, but also everything related to memory, GPUs, etc. The trick is not only to read papers, but also to determine precisely what you have learned. Personally, I have the advantage of having a good understanding of the laws of physics and the methods of constructing transistors. Once once more, this comes from my past. This helps me identify what is good or not for a particular application, when an approach or technology makes sense, and when and how to apply it to the cores I design.”
Rather than grabbing a piece of paper to scribble hieroglyphics that our mere mortal brains would have difficulty interpreting, Gerard Williams uses allegory. “When I design CPUs, my mental model is that of the island. Each approach or technology is an island. And as if I were landing on an island, I try to go around it exhaustively. So I read everything I find and look into the matter. That said, this process sometimes leads me to dead ends or to exhausting my stock of ideas. So, I build mental bridges to other islands that, once more, I try to discover and connect to my acquired knowledge. This leads to regressions from time to time, but don’t be afraid to try.”analyzes the one who seems to understand fleas like no one else.
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The myth of ARM’s superiority, the automobile and space as the Holy Grail of computing
© Adrian Branco / Les Numériques
Relaunched on the subject of the interest of RISC V and the possible superiority of ARM over x86, the man gently sends us back to the ropes. “Any ISA is goodhe assures. Once once more, it all depends on what your starting point is and, for x86, it’s in watts not milliwatts. This changes a lot of things. Here once more, you have to understand what is good and what is not.”
A rather surprising response from the father of ARM’s success in PCs! If Gerard Williams is the one who has put Apple at the center since the launch of the M chips – and will be, Qualcomm no doubt hopes, the one who will allow the brand to shake up Intel and AMD – he recognizes a certain form of hierarchy of chips in which its technology is embedded.
During the performance measurements presented to the press by Qualcomm, the public was able to measure the power of the first Snapdragon X Elite prototypes.
© Adrian Branco / Les Numériques
Qualcomm has already announced it: from 2024, the American company will offer its powerful Oryon core in a smartphone version within the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 before extending it to the entire portfolio of all-in-one processors (SoC in the jargon), from VR headsets to cars. While he admits to appreciating the variation of his technology, he takes the most pride in its implementation in “automotive, because it’s a field in which I worked. I know the enormous constraints, both in terms of qualifications, stability of the chip, and resistance to temperature changes”. And the Ingenuity Martian drone which runs on an old Snapdragon 801 processor? “Space is obviously another area that carries even more pride due to its extraordinary appearance. The responsibilities of this type of mission are obviously enormous”he professes.
Time will tell whether Oryon CPU cores will one day go down the highway or into space. One thing is certain: the development of the M1 and other Snapdragon X Elite does not mark a peak in its career. “Yes, I can still continue to produce more powerful processors. Oryon is our first generation of custom CPU and represented five years of work. But I don’t stop there, whether in terms of efficiency or power.”
Where Apple preferred to focus on consumer products (which would have precipitated his departure and that of other engineers), Gerard Williams now works for a company whose chip portfolio is much broader. If the Snapdragon as the cars of tomorrow. And one day perhaps in space?
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