Intel Corp, the biggest maker of personal computer processors, announced new chips for PCs and data centers that the company hopes would give it a bigger slice of the booming market for artificial intelligence (AI) hardware.
The lineup includes updated Xeon server chips — the second overhaul of that processor in less than a year — that use less electricity while boosting performance and memory, the company said in a statement on Thursday. Meanwhile, Intel’s Ultra Core chips for laptops and desktop computers would let PCs process AI functions directly.
Intel’s new product with the most to prove might be the Gaudi 3, the latest installment of a line that competes with Nvidia Corp’s industry-leading H100. These chips — known as AI accelerators — help companies to develop chatbots and other rapidly proliferating services. Gaudi 3 is on schedule for release next year, and Intel said that it would outperform the H100.
Photo: Bloomberg
Intel Corp CEO Patrick Gelsinger is counting on AI features to help reinvigorate growth at the company, which has suffered from past missteps and a broader PC slump. He faces tougher competition than ever. Longtime rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) has snatched market share in PCs and servers, and some of Intel’s largest customers are now designing their own chips in-house.
At the same time, Nvidia has become a dominant force in data center chips with its AI accelerators. The products have sent sales soaring and propelled Nvidia’s valuation above US$1.1 trillion. It is now on course to overtake Intel in total revenue this year for the first time, analysts’ projections show. For decades, Intel was the biggest chipmaker in the world.
AMD is also playing catch-up with Nvidia in AI accelerators. Its version of that product, the MI300, is to debut next year. AMD unveiled the chip at an event last week and announced that the market for AI accelerators could climb to more than US$400 billion in the next four years.
Intel looks to gain an edge by shifting more AI processing toward devices, rather than data centers. The new Ultra Core chips, which do just that, are to be available in about 230 PC models from manufacturers such as Dell Technologies Inc and Samsung Electronics Co starting as soon as Thursday, Intel said.
Another shift could help Intel. For now, the AI industry has concentrated on developing chatbots and services through a process called training, which involves bombarding the software with data. Companies might later be more focused on actually running their completed software — something that could be handled with Xeon processors in data centers and with PC chips, Intel said.
Intel on Thursday said that dozens of personal computer makers are using its newest chip, as the company and its customers try to entice consumers to upgrade their machines for a new era of chatbots.
At a press event in New York, Intel said the new offering would be available in laptops from Dell Technologies, Microsoft, Lenovo Group (聯想) and others that are to go on sale on Thursday at Best Buy in the US, and other global retailers, including China’s JD.com (京東) and Australia’s Harvey Norman.
Intel’s central processor units have long served as the brains of most personal computers. The new chip that went by the codename “Meteor Lake” is Intel’s first that would also contain what is called a neural processing unit (NPU), a section of the chip dedicated to handling artificial intelligence tasks.
Apple, Qualcomm and other smartphone chipmakers have included NPUs in their mobile phone offerings for at least five years.
The Silicon Valley company is hoping that a new wave of AI applications provides some incentive to buy what Intel has dubbed the “AI PC,” a category it expects to comprise 80 percent of PCs sold within the next four years.
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