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Industry Solution
Data Center
Programmable acceleration for the AI data center: networking, storage, platform management, and inference on Altera FPGAs.
The Programmable Layer of the AI Data Center
Digital AI depends on efficient data movement and scalable compute to train models and deliver fast, reliable inference. Between the CPU, the xPU, and the wire, there is work software can't do fast enough and ASICs can't change fast enough. Altera FPGAs run it in hardware: line rate, deterministic latency, reprogrammable as standards move. Agilex® 7 pairs hardened PCIe 5.0, CXL, and 400G Ethernet on every F-Tile with in-package HBM2e for the data path. Agilex 5, Agilex 3, and MAX® 10 cover every platform management socket from power sequencing to a consolidated BMC with hardware root of trust.
The Challenges, and Why FPGA
The Challenge
Latency Drifts Under Load
Software data paths add interrupts, context switches, and jitter; tail latency grows with scale.
Why FPGA
Deterministic, Ultra-Low Latency
Parallel hardware pipelines. No interrupts, no context switches, no jitter. Wire speed at any packet size.
The Challenge
Standards Change Faster Than Silicon
New AI models, transports, and security standards arrive on a cadence fixed silicon cannot follow.
Why FPGA
Hardware-as-Code
Reprogram deployed silicon for new models, transports, and standards. A bitstream update, not a board respin.
The Challenge
Interface Sprawl
Legacy, current, and emerging interfaces coexist in one rack and need bridging without extra parts.
Why FPGA
Universal I/O
Hardened PCIe 5.0, CXL, and 400G Ethernet with transceivers to 116 Gbps bridge every generation in one device.
The Challenge
Memory Wall
Memory-bound workloads, from inference to storage, are limited by bus speed, not compute.
Why FPGA
Memory-Class Devices
Agilex 7 M-Series pairs in-package HBM2e with DDR5 and CXL so memory-bound workloads run at memory speed.
Why Altera
Highest Memory Bandwidth FPGA
Agilex 7 M-Series pairs in-package HBM2e with DDR5 and a 7.52 Tb/s network-on-chip.
Chiplet Architecture, Built for Your I/O
R-Tile, F-Tile, and E-Tile over EMIB: pick the transceiver mix that matches the workload.
Open Software Stack
Open FPGA Stack for PCIe cards, P4 Suite for packet processing, FPGA AI Suite for inference IP.
Production Partner Ecosystem
Accelerator boards, AI NICs, and memory and networking IP from the Altera Solutions Partner network.
Data Center Applications
AI Inference
Moves and pre-processes data for the compute- and memory-bound phases of inference so GPUs in disaggregated clusters stay fed.
DPU & AI NIC
Offloads RDMA, OVS, and security protocols for ultra-low, deterministic latency in DPUs and AI NICs.
Platform Management
Power sequencing, telemetry, and hardware root-of-trust (BMC/SCM/PRoT) for server platform management.
Storage
Moves NVMe-oF protocol, encryption, and compression into a deterministic, line-rate hardware pipeline.
Get Started
Common Questions
Between the CPU, the xPU, and the wire: in the NIC, the storage controller, the board management controller, and beside the xPU as a memory orchestrator. Each is a data-path job that benefits from line rate, deterministic latency, and the ability to reprogram as standards change.
I-Series is bandwidth-class, with the highest transceiver density for DPUs, AI NICs, and PCIe-attached cards. M-Series is memory-class, with in-package HBM2e, DDR5, and CXL through a 7.52 Tb/s NoC for inference and storage acceleration.
Yes. Altera FPGAs sit alongside GPUs and xPUs as the data plane: feeding memory, moving KV cache between nodes, and terminating the network, so the accelerators spend their cycles on the model. One NIC or memory design carries across xPU vendors and generations.
Pick the application page that matches your socket, then use the development kit, design examples, and IP listed under Get Started. Open FPGA Stack, P4 Suite, and FPGA AI Suite give you a software starting point before hardware arrives.
Altera supports its FPGA families for the full lifecycle of a data center program, with key devices committed for availability through at least 2045, alongside ongoing tool and support updates.