Meta has partnered with AMD on a new 4G/5G global mobile network infrastructure project, the semiconductor giant has announced.
AMD will develop multiple radio units (RUs) for Meta’s Evenstar programme, which aims to build metaverse-ready radio access network (RAN) reference designs for 4G and 5G networks in the Open RAN ecosystem.
The new Evenstar RUs are to be equipped with Zynq RFSoC architecture designed by Xilinx, which was acquired by AMD in February 2022 for $49 billion.
The technology is expected to leverage the same foundational hardware to address diverse radio configurations and emerging standards, from 4G and 5G to mmWav and sub-6GHz, allowing the offering to adapt easily to new market opportunities.
Meta Connectivity director of wireless engineering Jaydeep Ranade said that the tech giant is “excited to see AMD RFSoC solutions incorporated into Evenstar RUs in collaboration with our ecosystem partners”, which include Cisco, CommScope, and Vodafone.
“As we continue to champion open, disaggregated solutions for the industry, we look forward to unlocking new ways to accelerate the pace of innovation as networks evolve,” he added.
Commenting on the partnership, AMD VP for Data Centre and Communications Group, Dan Mansur described equipping Evenstar radios with adaptive radio technology as “a significant achievement for AMD”.
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“We are proud to be an ecosystem partner with Meta Connectivity and look forward to continuing our collaborative designs for Evenstar to deliver flexible, scalable, and efficient wireless solutions,” he added.
The news comes weeks after AMD splashed out $1.9 billion on networking firm Pensando. Founded in 2017, Pensando counts on several other high profile customers including IBM Cloud, Oracle Cloud, and Goldman Sachs and is expected to provide AMD with accelerated networking, security, storage, and other services for cloud, enterprise, and edge applications.
As part of the deal, Pensando CEO Prem Jain and the rest of the team will join AMD as part of the Data Centre Solutions Group. It is set to remain focused on executing its product and technology roadmaps, but now with additional scale to accelerate its business and address growing market opportunities across a broader number of customers.
