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AMD Raven Ridge will incorporate Cypress EZ-PD CCG5 controller to reduce USB Type-C costs

AMD Raven Ridge will incorporate Cypress controller to reduce USB Type-C costs (Source: Cypress)
AMD Raven Ridge will incorporate Cypress controller to reduce USB Type-C costs (Source: Cypress)
USB Type-C Gen. 2 is still rather uncommon on notebooks. The single-chip controller solution from Cypress should make it less expensive for both Intel and AMD to integrate multiple USB Type-C Gen. 2 ports onto laptops while allowing for 100 W power delivery and better fail-safe mechanisms.

Cypress Semiconductors Inc. offers microcontrollers for a broad range of consumer and industrial applications including IoT, smarthome, and automotive solutions. One particular application is its EZ-PD controller designed for laptops and desktop PCs. Its EZ-PD CCG5 controller was recently certified by Intel for use in Thunderbolt 3 devices and AMD has today confirmed the same for its Raven Ridge platform via a public press release.

USB controllers may be insignificant to the average consumer, but they play a key role in making sure connected USB devices can communicate and charge no matter the client without damaging the circuits on either end. The Cypress EZ-PD CCG5 is notable for three reasons; it is the first single-chip controller for two USB Type-C Gen. 2 ports and it integrates 128 KB of programmable flash memory with additional analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). The former will allow AMD to integrate two USB Type-C ports onto its laptops more cheaply while the latter allows the controller to store multiple firmware images for fail-safe and reliability purposes. Lastly, the ADCs can prevent overvoltages while also supporting 100 W Power Delivery 3.0 similar to Thunderbolt 3.

We can hopefully begin to see more notebooks equipped with Raven Ridge as a direct consequence of this announcement. Systems with dual USB Type-C ports and USB charging should prove convenient in the Ultrabook space where the existing Ryzen 5 2500U and Ryzen 7 2700U APUs work best.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2018 06 > AMD Raven Ridge will incorporate Cypress EZ-PD CCG5 controller to reduce USB Type-C costs
Allen Ngo, 2018-06- 5 (Update: 2018-06- 6)