Intel Corp has this month made an announcement revealing that it will be entering into a form of battle with AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) and other big companies which are capitalising on the demand for microchips which can be used for cloud computing.
Intel’s microprocessor is set to be called the Xeon Scalable Processor chip, and according to its creators, is set apart from its existing counterparts. Navel Rao, the VP of Intel’s artificial intelligence branch, has reportedly informed that it Intel’s microprocessor will provide users with more support for the ways that computing is expected to be implemented in the near relatively near future, including artificial intelligence and cars which do not require a driver.
The development is thought to be targeted mainly at huge companies such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and others which depend on giant data centres made up of thousands of computers. This will allow these companies to more effectively provide its services, and also to share this power with customers who might not want to own and maintain such colossal computer systems.
Of course, specifically targeting these companies comes with its own challenges. Firstly, because of their vast resources, many of them are able to experiment with their own hardware design and chips – an opportunity some have taken. Not only does this create more competition, it also curbs the prices which Intel can set on its microprocessors.
The outlook so far is optimistic though: Google Cloud Platform has already adopted these new Intel microprocessors, creating a very promising impression for Xeon’s future. Intel’s biggest issue is expected to be the intense competition it will face from its rival, AMD, which has also just unveiled a next-generation data processor.
It’s clear, then, that the development of Intel’s new microprocessor is timely. All-purpose computer chips are becoming decreasingly desirable and useful in comparison with chips made more to specific purpose – a logical preference as tasks are constantly more differentiated, and more complex. Consider the different needs of chips for mobile phones and tablets, for servers which carry out machine-language tasks, the broadening of artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things.
And as more individual chip startups are expected to spring up by some people, maintaining the competitive edge is more important than ever.
It seems that data centres are in a state of constant development and differentiation. Hopefully, this will mean that all of them will be more efficiently run, through the use of more made-to-purpose technology in the hands of people who understand, even love, it. Its availability, of course, means that these centres have less and less of an excuse to not run smoothly, and perhaps to focus down to specific fields more and more themselves. It seems development is affecting demand as demands impact upon developments. And, as we know in the industry, keeping up with both is imperative.
