Intel previews 288-cores Xeon CPU to support 'AI Everywhere' — and yes, it is taking the lead on core count for now

Intel 4th Gen Xeon Scalable Processor
(Image credit: Intel)

Intel has previewed its latest Xeon hardware, codenamed Sierra Forrest, for the AI processing industry using its powerful flagship chip architecture to select partners in Barcelona.

The announcement was made at MWC 2024, not long after the company's recent announcement concerning its bid to enhance its chip manufacturing process.

While the Sierra Forest chips will be available in the second half of 2024, customers will have to wait until 2025 to get their hands on Intel’s most powerful Xeon processor, Granite Rapids-D.

AI enhanced next generation processing power

The Granite Rapids-D processors will build upon the doubled vRAN workload processing capacity offered by Sapphire Rapids EE chips, and then go above and beyond by increasing this performance even further by leveraging Intel AVX and vRAN Boost.

This will help reduce the costs of the latest chipset by allowing customers to do more with less, while also reducing power consumption, Intel said. The chips are currently undergoing testing with a range of Intel customers such as Dell, Lenovo and Red Hat.

To tide customers over until next year, Intel’s Sierra Forest processors will arrive later this year offering up to 288 cores and leveraging Intel Infrastructure Power Manager to continue the trend of reducing power consumption and operating costs.

The Sierra Forest line will employ the latest E-core technology to boost performance of 5G workloads by 2.7 times per rack, according to Intel. The 20% power savings boasted by the 4th Gen Intel Xeon processors have the potential to help Intel customers meet sustainability and cost-reduction goals.

According to Intel, both of these offerings will help their customers leverage the opportunities afforded by AI, and meet the company goal of “AI Everywhere” in regards to its customers' infrastructure.

Via SiliconAngle

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Benedict Collins
Staff Writer (Security)

Benedict has been writing about security issues for close to 5 years, at first covering geopolitics and international relations while at the University of Buckingham. During this time he studied BA Politics with Journalism, for which he received a second-class honours (upper division). Benedict then continued his studies at a postgraduate level and achieved a distinction in MA Security, Intelligence and Diplomacy. Benedict transitioned his security interests towards cybersecurity upon joining TechRadar Pro as a Staff Writer, focussing on state-sponsored threat actors, malware, social engineering, and national security. Benedict is also an expert on B2B security products, including firewalls, antivirus, endpoint security, and password management.