With the rise of generative AI, data centers have become one of the most important parts of the tech stack in recent years. Whoever makes the chips that power these giants is up for grabs.
At Computex 2024, Intel presented announced a host of updates to its chips for data center and AI workloads with the launch of its Xeon 6 processors.
Intel finalized the
The Nitty Gritty
The company is squarely targeting its chip offerings at large OEMs and organizations, especially those with “aging data center systems,” and claims the new Xeon 6 chips will deliver greater energy efficiency while maximizing floor and rack space.
Of the Xeon chip family, the first to debut is the Intel Xeon 6 E-core (codenamed Sierra Forest), which is available now, and after that the .
As the names E-core and P-core imply, both are focused on efficiency and performance respectively. Of course, that doesn’t mean the E-core chips are slow; these will revolve around most other chips at this point.
According to Intel fact sheet, there’s a lot to like about the Xeon 6 processors. For example, the 6700 series offers up to 1.4x more memory bandwidth and up to 1.1x more input and output bandwidth than 5th generation Xeon models. The more powerful 6900, meanwhile, has up to 1.8x better inter-socket bandwidth than the 5th generation Xeon.
This may seem like an exaggeration, but for those who run data centers, it’s music to the ears: better performance with less power consumption.
In terms of the raw technical specifications, the Xeon 6 6700 series has up to 144 Efficient cores alongside 86 Performance cores, while the 6900 series has up to 288 Efficient cores and 128 Performance cores. Venture Beat has a good distribution of the rest.
Intel on top
It’s no secret that Intel has been struggling for years with both desktop/laptop chips and high-performance chips. Apple’s shift to its vastly superior A- and M-series chips in the latest MacBooks, iPhones, iPads and iMacs has serious consequences has affected its position within the sector.
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has set out to reverse Intel’s declining fortunes and has even gone a step further direct shot at Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during his Computex keynote speech.
At the top end, Nvidia has absolutely dominated in recent years, rising to an incredible market cap of $2.8 trillion in recent weeks. strong first quarter earnings That showed a ridiculous 262% year-over-year increase in revenue to over $26 billion, thanks to the sales and dominance of AI chips.
In addition to Apple and Nvidia, AMD is also challenging for more of Intel’s dinner. According to IoT analyticsNvidia has an insane market share of over 90% in the AI chip industry, leaving AMD and Intel to scrape for the rest.