Accelerating Chiplet Interoperability

By Mick Posner

February 16, 2026

In the chiplet marketplace, the vision of a library of chiplets that can be mixed and matched requires interoperability between chiplets (sometimes from different sources), meaning standardization is essential. By establishing common chiplet system standards, designers will be able to seamlessly integrate chiplets from different vendors, reducing development time and costs while continuing to drive innovation. Interoperability ensures that diverse components work together reliably, unlocking new possibilities for modular system design and expanding the market for all participants.

While there are several specifications that aim to define chiplet systems, the Arm^® Chiplet System Architecture (Arm CSA) is by far the most comprehensive and mature. Arm recently contributed the Arm CSA to the Open Compute Project (OCP) to form the Foundational Chiplet System Architecture (FCSA). FCSA will deliver a vendor and CPU-neutral architecture, common system partition guidelines, and a shared vocabulary and set of standards for system-level and interface definitions between chiplets, complementing existing interconnect standards like the Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express (UCIe^™).

Think of OCP FCSA as the expansive baseline standard covering broad Chiplet system architecture and Arm CSA as the Arm-specific implementation of OCP FCSA. I know Arm CSA came first, in the future, Arm CSA will follow and build upon the OCP FCSA.

The OCP's FCSA offers several key benefits:

• Modularity and Interoperability: It enables modular design at the silicon level, allowing different chiplets to work seamlessly together, regardless of the manufacturer.
• Reduced Fragmentation: By providing a neutral, standardized framework, it minimizes industry fragmentation and promotes collaboration across companies.
• Open Ecosystem: It encourages innovation by fostering an open chiplet economy, where companies can contribute and benefit from shared advancements.
• Scalability: It supports scalable solutions for industries like automotive and computing, where flexible and efficient silicon designs are critical.
• Cost Efficiency: It facilitates cost-effective development by reusing standardized components rather than designing custom silicon for every application.
• Accelerated Innovation: It speeds up time to market for new technologies by simplifying the integration of diverse chiplets into cohesive systems.

This architecture is a significant step toward a more collaborative and efficient future for chiplet-based designs.

Designed with interoperability in mind, the Cadence Physical AI Chiplet platform and its underlying Cadence Chiplet Framework follow the Arm CSA and are expected to align with the OCP FCSA specification as it matures. The Cadence implementation, in addition, incorporates chiplet system capabilities above and beyond the specification that our engineers deemed essential for physical AI applications and generalized chiplet use cases. Cadence is excited about the evolution of the new Foundation Chiplet System Architecture specification and is committed to driving this standard forward through leadership and future contributions.

Learn more about Cadence Chiplet Solutions.