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FPGA Solutions
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
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.
Reference Platforms
Altera development kits with Open FPGA Stack (OFS) support: the boards data center designs start on.
Agilex 7 I-Series Development Kit
The 400G reference for AI NICs, DPUs, and CXL: OFS PCIe-attach FIM on R-Tile Gen5 x16, two QSFP-DD cages, and an FPGA AI Suite inference example.
Vendor and device: Altera, AGIB027R29A1E1VB
- PCIe 5.0 x16 and CXL via MCIO
- 2x QSFP-DD: 2x400G, 2x200G, or 8x25G
- 2x DDR4 32 GB plus DIMM sockets
- OFS 2025.1 FIM, OPAE, DFL drivers
Agilex 7 M-Series HBM2e Development Kit
The memory reference for inference and storage acceleration: in-package HBM2e beside DDR5, PCIe 5.0 x16 host attach, 3x F-Tile for line-rate Ethernet.
Vendor and device: Altera, AGMF039R47A1E2VC
- 32 GB in-package HBM2e
- 16 GB DDR5 RDIMM plus DDR5 components with ECC
- PCIe 5.0 x16 via MCIO, 3x F-Tile, 1x R-Tile
- FPGA AI Suite and NoC design examples
Agilex 7 F-Series Transceiver-SoC Development Kit
The SmartNIC and platform reference: the same F-Series SoC device as the OFS N6001-PL platform, with QSFP-DD, QSFP28, PCIe Gen4 x16, and HPS daughter cards for embedded Linux.
Vendor and device: Altera, AGFB014R24B2E2V with Arm HPS
- PCIe 4.0 x16, 16 P-Tile and 16 E-Tile channels
- QSFP-DD and QSFP28 cages, up to 58G PAM4
- 8 GB DDR4 plus SODIMM
- OFS 2025.1 FIM, OPAE, HPS OOBE
Get Started
Data Center Applications
AI Inference
Memory orchestration, KV cache, and prefill-decode disaggregation on Agilex 7 M-Series.
DPU & AI NIC
Offload the network, free the host, keep latency flat at 100/200/400G.
Storage
NVMe-oF, inline crypto and compression, and array processing on one Agilex 7 device.
Platform Management
BMC, SCM, and Platform Root of Trust consolidated on one field-upgradable device.
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.