AMD begins sampling space-grade Versal AI Core SoC package

AMD has begun sampling its XQRVC1902 Versal AI Core adaptive system-on-chip in an enhanced space-grade package with early-access customers, the company announced on October 1.

The samples give aerospace customers early access to the package, but they are not Class Y-qualified flight units. AMD said it is still testing toward MIL-PRF-38535 Class Y qualification and expects flight-qualified units to become available in the second half of 2027.

AMD said the package is designed for missions lasting as long as 15 years and that its lidless construction improves thermal performance, though the announcement supplied no comparative thermal measurement or mission-life test result. The company’s package data sheet describes an enhanced organic substrate selected for high strength, more conservative trace-placement rules, two added substrate layers and space-grade chip capacitors with lead-tin plating.

The package uses a 2,197-ball grid array and is pin-compatible with commercial, defense-grade and space-grade VC1902 devices, according to AMD. Device specifications list 400 AI Engine tiles, 1,968 DSP engines, 1,968,400 system logic cells, 191 Mb of programmable-logic memory and 44 GTY transceivers rated at 26.5625 Gb/s.

AMD’s ordering documentation lists a longer dynamic burn-in period for Class Y than for Class B, along with Class Y-only static burn-in, Group E testing and destructive physical analysis. The Defense Logistics Agency identifies MIL-PRF-38535 as the qualification specification governing its active QML-38535 program.

AMD completed Class B qualification for its first space-grade Versal adaptive SoCs, including the XQRVC1902, in November 2022. That earlier qualification is separate from the enhanced package’s pending Class Y process.