SK hynix Reportedly Unveils H-TPU That Breaks Through General-Purpose CPU Limitations

According to the South Korean media outlet ZDNET, SK hynix has introduced the H-TPU architecture. H-TPU is not a tensor accelerator that performs AI computing, but rather a programmable processor dedicated to controlling the SSD data plane and processing transactions. Its key feature is that it abandons the traditional approach of relying on a single large general-purpose CPU. Instead, it subdivides control functions and breaks the processor down into functional units distributed across dozens of small TPU clusters. This architecture maximizes efficiency by splitting the processor by function, thereby overcoming the power and area limitations of general-purpose CPUs. In addition, SK hynix expects that H-TPU-centric controller innovation, combined with HBF (High Bandwidth Flash) emerging as the next-generation memory, will produce strong synergies.