Intel announced on the 29th that it will disclose details of the next-generation Intel Xeon processor products based on the next-generation platform architecture for the first time at Hot Chips, a semiconductor industry academic event.



In this announcement, Intel said it will offer products based on the existing high-performance P-core as well as the efficient E-core. The new products, which will be codenamed Granite Rapids and Sierra Forest respectively, will provide hardware architecture compatibility and software stack sharing to enable more convenient and flexible processing of important workloads such as artificial intelligence.

Intel conducted two sessions introducing the Xeon platform architecture and product technology specifications and features that will be introduced in 2024, and shared details about the 5th generation Intel Xeon processors that are scheduled to be released later this year.

The new Intel Xeon platform is based on modular system-on-chips (SoCs) to provide increased scalability and flexibility to meet the diverse needs of growing artificial intelligence, cloud and enterprise deployments, including scale, processing and power efficiency. Additionally, it is designed to be compatible with two sockets to handle all workloads, helping customers maximize the value of their investment.

Key features include: △P-Core and E-Core share intellectual property (IP), firmware, and operating system software stacks; △The fastest DDR and new high-bandwidth Multiplied Composite Rank (MCR) DIMMs; △New Intel flat memory that enables hardware-managed data movement between DDR5 and CXL memory, allowing full capacity to be verified in software; △CXL 2.0 that provides backward compatibility with CXL 1.1; and △I/O that supports up to 136 lanes of PCIe 5.0/CXL 2.0 and up to 6 UPI links.

The Intel Xeon processor with E-Core (codenamed Sierra Forest) delivers optimized density-based computing in an efficient power-consumption manner, delivering a high level of power-to-density ratio to handle cloud-native and hyper-scale workloads.

E-Core based Xeon processors feature: △2.5x improved rack density, 2.4x performance-per-watt improvement △Support for socket and 2-socket servers, configurable with up to 144 cores per CPU and TDP as low as 200W △The latest instruction set with robust security, virtualization, and AI extensions △Basic memory RAS features on all Xeon CPUs, including machine check and data cache ECC.

Intel Xeon Processors (Granite Rapids) with P-Cores are optimized to deliver the lowest total cost of ownership for performance-sensitive, high-performance core-demanding workloads and general-purpose computing workloads.

He emphasized that the current Xeon processor provides superior AI performance compared to other CPUs, and Granite Rapids will further enhance AI performance. Additionally, it was announced that it will improve performance and efficiency for specific workloads through built-in accelerators.

Granite Rapids’ AI performance delivers: 2-3x higher performance for mixed AI workloads; Enhanced Intel AMX with support for new FP16 instructions; Higher memory bandwidth, core counts, and cache for compute-intensive workloads; and Socket scalability from 1 to 8 sockets.

Additionally, a separate session introduced new features of the Intel Agilex 9 Direct RF-Series FPGAs.

The Intel Agilex 9 Direct RF-Series FPGAs feature integrated 64 gigasamples per second (Gsps) data converters and a new wideband agility reference design that includes both wideband and narrowband receivers in the same multichip package. The narrowband receiver provides a whopping 32 GHz of RF bandwidth from the FPGA.

In line with Intel's data center roadmap, the products are said to be supplied on time as scheduled, and the 5th generation Intel Xeon processor (codenamed Emerald Rapids) is said to be sampling.

It is expected to be introduced in the fourth quarter of 2023, while the Intel Xeon processor with E-core (codenamed Sierra Forest) is expected to be released in the first half of 2024.

Intel Xeon processors (Granite Rapids) with P-cores are expected to be produced shortly thereafter, in the first half of 2024, while Intel Agilex 9 Direct RF FPGAs were delivered to BAE Systems six quarters ahead of schedule, demonstrating chiplet-based heterogeneous integration technology powered by Intel EMIB technology.

“This is an exciting time for Intel and our Xeon roadmap,” said Lisa Spelman, Intel vice president and general manager of the Xeon Products and Solutions Business. “We recently shipped our 1 millionth Xeon product, our 5th-generation Xeon (Emerald Rapids) is scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter of 2023, and Intel’s portfolio of data center products is poised to deliver a strong industry lead in 2024.”