NTMBK
Diamond Member
- Nov 14, 2011
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AMX is undocumented. They don't want third parties using it, it is only used in Apple's internal libraries. They could drop AMX from their next chip, replace it with the ARMv9 matrix instructions, and have their internal libraries handle it just fine.Given that Apple has already decided to go their own way with their AMX instructions, and could similarly add other instructions/functionality they wanted, I wonder if they have any reason to go ARMv9?
They released the first Apple Silicon before v9 was finalized, when if they planned on going to v9 as quickly as they went v8 waiting a few months to have that become the baselines for ARM Macs would have made a lot of sense. That seems to indicate Apple doesn't think v9 is that important, so I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for an Apple SoC that implements v9.
If true, Apple's "ARM" could slowly diverge from what the rest of the market is using, at least until external forces forced them to re-base on v9. Microsoft releasing a version of Windows/ARM that requires v9 is the only external force big enough I can think of.
As others have pointed out, there is no reason for Apple to throw away the software ecosystem benefits of staying with "mainstream" ARM.