Intel has won another patent dispute with VLSI - the claim was cancelled

The history of interaction between Intel and VLSI Technology knows several defeats of the former, as a result of patent disputes only last year the processor giant had to pay the opponent more than $3 billion.
A Delaware court had to consider another VLSI lawsuit against Intel over patent infringement by the first of the parties, but the disputants came to an agreement in pre-trial order and without cash payments.Image source: IntelIt was reported by Reuters with reference to the decision of the judiciary.
Earlier it was reported that VLSI demanded more than $4 billion in damages from Intel, but now it refuses the claims and their re-submission.
VLSI is refusing to prosecute Intel's partners and suppliers on the five patents in the lawsuit.
No cash payment is involved in such a decision.Intel has recently built its defense in disputes with VLSI on attempts to clarify the structure of the owners of this company and the ultimate beneficiaries of the corresponding lawsuits.
Earlier this month, Intel representatives had just asked the court to dismiss the case due to the complex ownership structure of VLSI, which does not allow to objectively assess the degree of interest of the ultimate beneficiaries in the outcome of the case.
The dismissal of the dispute implies that VLSI will now not have to further disclose the company's ownership by next January.
North Carolina is due for another trial in the patent law dispute between VLSI and Intel in 2024.

Core i9-13900K review: 350 Watt unit (not really)

Intel has long ago abandoned the \"tick-tock\" approach in development, but nevertheless, its echoes can still be caught when the company launches new products.
For example, the Alder Lake, which didn't quite fit this principle and introduced both a new process technology and a new architecture at once, was replaced by the new generation of Raptor Lake, which has clear signs of an intermediate technological step \"optimization\".
This stage became a popular method of processor improvement in the times of Skylake architecture domination and Intel doesn't give it up even today.
But there is an important difference: now the optimization steps are related not so much to the desire to maximize the lifecycle of old designs, as to increase the pace of CPU generation change.Raptor Lake is already the third family of Intel desktop processors since the beginning of 2021, and it would be strange to expect from it any dramatic innovations.
At the same time, Raptor Lake is a far cry from the kind of \"optimization\" the company resorted to when getting Coffee Lake and Comet Lake from Kaby Lake.
This time Intel's approach is much more thorough, and Raptor Lake isn't just Alder Lake with extra processing cores.
For one thing, Raptor Lake does inherit all the main features of Alder Lake.
It's a hybrid processor based on the same principles, built with performance and power-efficient cores with the same microarchitecture as before.
What's more, it's designed for the LGA1700 ecosystem and is fully compatible with older motherboards and supports both DDR5 and DDR4 memory.
On the other hand, Raptor Lake has a significant increase in clock speeds, which is due to improvements in the Intel 7 process technology.
In addition, the new processor has received a doubled number of E-core and, in addition, all of its cores have increased the amount of cache memory on Level 2.Thus, although Raptor Lake can not be called a full-scale upgrade, it has a sufficient set of advantages for both low- and multi-threaded loads.
And that means that from a user perspective, Raptor Lake should be better than Alder Lake literally everywhere: in resource-intensive content creation and processing applications as well as in gaming workloads.
How significant these improvements are from a practical point of view, and we will analyze in this article.⇡#Performance and energy-efficient cores Raptor LakeStarting the search for deep differences between Raptor Lake and Alder Lake, it is worth clarifying that they are produced by the same Intel 7 process technology, that is 10-nm norms (the full name of the technology process - 10 nm Enhanced SuperFin).
Moreover, the cores underlying Raptor Lake, too, can not be called new: it's not even a redesign, but rather what is called the word \"refresh\".
In fact, all internal improvements in the new CPU affect only cache memory and DDR4/DDR5 controller, but do not touch other functional blocks.
In this sense, Raptor Lake could not even be called a new code name, but simply Alder Lake 2.0.However, in the absence of explicit microarchitectural changes, the performance cores of Raptor Lake compared to Golden Cove cores of Alder Lake processors have received a much higher clock speed.
And this is due to evolutionary improvements in the manufacturing process.
While the lithography resolution hasn't changed, Raptor Lake uses an optimized version of Intel's 3rd generation SuperFin transistors with reduced channel resistance.
This allowed Intel engineers to reconsider the dependence of core frequency on their voltage and eventually achieve an increase in clock speeds without a noticeable increase in power supply voltage.
In describing the new relationship, Intel points out that at equal frequency, Raptor Lake can use 50 mV less voltage than Alder Lake, and at equal voltage its frequency can be 200 MHz higher.
Combining these improvements, engineers were able to push the maximum frequency of Raptor Lake's performance cores to 5.8 GHz, 600 MHz more than the frequency limit of Alder Lake! The optimized processor not only enabled higher frequencies, but also increased the transistor budget that was used to increase the number of cores.
While the Alder Lake chip contained eight performance and eight power-efficient cores, Raptor Lake doubled the number of power-efficient cores.
In other words, without changing technology norms, Intel made the first civilian processors with 24 cores (16 of which are energy efficient).
However, all this did not go unnoticed for power consumption and heat dissipation.
While the thermal package of the senior Raptor Lake remained at 125W, the limit of their maximum power consumption had to be pushed to 253W.
And that means

The full specifications of the Core i9-13900KS 6GHz chip were revealed, and it was also up to 39% faster than its predecessor

As part of the Raptor Lake desktop processor announcement, Intel has confirmed that it plans to eventually release another flagship processor capable of automatically overclocking to 6GHz right out of the box.
Officially, the manufacturer did not disclose the name of this model, but apparently it was about Core i9-13900KS.
The latest major leak about Intel chips confirmed these assumptions and revealed the full specifications of the upcoming select CPU.Image source: VideoCardzCore i9-13900KS is a 24-core processor, which includes eight efficient P-core and 16 energy-efficient E-core.
The processor supports 32 threads.
Turbo Boost Max 3.0 technology allows its 1-2 highest performing cores to automatically overclock to 5.8 GHz.
Thermal Velocity Boost technology provides an extra 200 MHz of automatic overclocking to the same 6GHz.
The base frequency of the Core i9-13900KS large cores is also 200 MHz higher than the regular Core i9-13900K, at 3.2 GHz.
At the same time, the power-efficient cores of the KS version operate in the same frequency range - from 2.2 to 4.3 GHz.
Image source: Twitter / @9550proThe Core i9-13900KS rated power consumption increased from 125W to 150W.
However, the maximum power consumption has not changed and stands at 253W.
The chip supports the same memory standards as all other Raptor Lake processor models - DDR4-3200 and DDR5-5600.Shortly after the above leak, the first data about Core i9-13900KS performance in synthetic Geekbench test also appeared on the web.
The processor was tested with ASUS ROG Z790 Maximus Hero motherboard and 32 GB DDR5-7200 RAM.
Image source: GeekbenchDetailed telemetry data from three Geekbench tests indicate that the Core i9-13900KS automatically overclocked on multiple cores to 5893 MHz, but its average clock speed was 5867 MHz.Image source: GeekbenchIn the single-core performance test the processor scored up to 2319 points, and in the multi-core performance test it scored up to 26,774.
So, on average, its single-core performance is 10% better than its predecessor Core i9-12900KS (Alder Lake), and multi-core performance is 39% better.Image source: Geekbanksh Image source: VideoCardzThe Core i9-13900KS is expected to be officially launched in early January, at CES 2023.
It should go on sale during the first quarter of next year.

Intel's processor plans for 2023 have been revealed: Raptor Lake-S Refresh, Sapphire Rapids-WS and special Sapphire Rapids-SP for workstations

Intel is going to hold a webinar for investors next week, where it will reveal the current plans for various products.
This information has been leaked to the Net ahead of time.
The manufacturer is going to present next year updated consumer Raptor Lake, chips for workstations Sapphire Rapids-WS, as well as special Sapphire Rapids-SP for workstations.
All of the new products will be released over the next five quarters.Image source: IntelJudging from the published presentation slides, the updated Raptor Lake-S Refresh series of consumer processors will be released early in the third quarter of next year, which is less than a year after the first Intel Core 13th generation processor models were released.
Intel Raptor Lake-S Refresh.
Image source: Twitter / @9550proAccording to Intel's consumer processor roadmap, the company will refresh all of its 13th-generation Core models with TDP of 125, 65 and 35 watts.
Notably, the manufacturer has not yet released Raptor Lake processor models with a nominal TDP below 125W at this time.
Their announcement is expected only in early January next year.
Intel chipset roadmapIt is also important to note that for the updated Raptor Lake-S Refresh processors, the manufacturer does not plan to release a new series of chipsets for motherboards.
In other words, all future upgraded Raptor Lake models will be able to run on motherboards with Intel 700-series chipsets.
To date, only the elder Intel Z790 series chipset is available in this series.
Also manufacturer will present chipsets H770 and B760, but in the entry-level segment will remain the already released H610.
Features of Sapphire Rapids-WS (Intel Xeon W-3400)Within Sapphire Rapids-WS platform for workstations Intel will release two series of processors: Xeon W-3400 and Xeon W-2400.
The former will be able to offer from 12 to 56 cores with support for 24 to 112 virtual threads, and will run at up to 4.8 GHz.
These processors will get 30 to 105 Mbytes of L3 cache and will have a TDP rating of 220 to 350 watts.
Intel Xeon W-3400 lineupSome of the Intel Xeon W-3400 processors will have an unlocked multiplier, allowing for manual overclocking.
It will support up to 4TB of 8-channel DDR5-4400 and DDR5-4800 RAM, as well as 112 lanes of PCIe 5.0.
Features of Sapphire Rapids-WS (Intel Xeon W-2400)Xeon W-2400 series will be represented by chips with the number of cores from 6 to 24, which will support from 12 to 48 virtual threads.
They will have 15 to 45 Mbytes of L3 cache memory and will run at speeds up to 4.8 GHz.
The TDP rating of these processor models will range from 110W to 225W.
Intel Xeon W-3400 lineup Part of the Xeon W-2400 series will also get an unlocked multiplier.
These processors will support up to 2TB of quad-channel DDR5-4400 and DDR5-4800 RAM, as well as 64 lanes of PCIe 5.0.
Features of the Sapphire Rapids-SP platform for workstationsSapphire Rapids-SP server-class processors will be represented by a series of 4th generation Xeon Scalable Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze models.
The Xeon Scalable Platinum Series chips will offer 36 to 56 processing cores with support for 72 to 112 virtual threads.
These chips will not have support for Intel Boost Max 3.0 technology, which will be available on Sapphire Rapids-WS workstation models, and therefore will have a maximum clock speed of 3.8 GHz.
This platform will get support for 80 PCIe 5.0 lanes and up to 4TB of DDR5-4800 RAM per CPU slot.
They will have a TDP rating of 300 to 350W.
Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP Workstation (Xeon Platinum 8400)Gold models will offer 8 to 32 cores with support for 16 to 64 virtual threads and will run at clock speeds up to 4.1 GHz.
Those processors will range from 22.5 to 60 Mbytes of L3 cache and have a TDP from 185W to 250W, depending on model.
The amount and standard of supported DDR5 memory, as well as the number of available PCIe 5.0 lanes will be the same as in Platinum models.
Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP for workstations (Xeon Gold 6400)Silver series will feature two CPU models: with 12 and 20 cores, supporting 24 or 40 threads respectively.
Both chips will run at 3.9 GHz.
The processors will get 30 and 37.5 Mbytes of L3 cache, respectively.
Their TDP will be 150 and 165W respectively.
Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP workstation lineup (Xeon Silver 4400 and Bronze 3400)Bronze lineup will feature only one 8-core model, without multithreading support

SK hynix has unveiled the fastest DDR5 MCR DIMM server memory - it is 80% faster than standard modules

SK hynix has announced the fastest DDR5 server memory modules - it has 8000 MT/s (or 8 Gbit/s).
This is about 80% faster than the standard DDR5-4800 modules used in the server segment.
The key feature of SK hynix DDR5-8000 server memory is Multiplexer Combined Ranks (MCR) technology, developed in collaboration with Intel and Renesas.
By using a special chip developed by Renesas that acts as a data buffer, SK hynix has made it possible to simultaneously use two memory ranks (chips on both sides of the module) to increase the data channel width to 128 bits instead of the usual 64 bits.
The Renesas chip acts as an intermediate between the CPU and the RAM module, as shown in the diagram below.
The new memory architecture provides the ability to simultaneously route twice as much information to the CPU as conventional DRAM modules.
As a result, achieved a significant increase in the speed of the modules without the need to increase the frequency of the memory chips themselves.According to the vice president and general manager of memory interface development division in Renesas, Sameer Kuppahalli (Sameer Kuppahalli), the development of the data buffer took three years of intensive work.
Intel, on the other hand, says it is looking forward to the application of MCR technology by future Xeon platforms.
SK hynix expects that the new memory will be in demand in the HPC-segment, but it has not yet announced the date of mass production of MCR DIMM memory.

Intel hasn't enabled DLVR for power efficiency on Raptor Lake, but it could work on future CPUs

Rumors that Raptor Lake processors should get new DLVR technology have been circulating since March last year, but nothing was known about it at the time.
Some time later, Intel registered a patent, which described the purpose of DLVR.
As it turned out, we are talking about Digital Linear Voltage Regulator (DLVR), a new mechanism that improves the energy efficiency of processors.Image source: VideoCardzThe document explained that the digital linear voltage regulator in Intel processors works in parallel with the main one, which is installed on the motherboard.
DLVR can reduce the voltage of the processor and thus reduce power consumption by 20-25%.
At the same time, a 21% reduction in power consumption allows for up to a 7% increase in performance.Image source: VideoCardzAs you know, some of the Intel Core 13th generation processors are already on sale.
However, there is no sign of DLVR technology in them.
Intel hasn't said anything publicly about the new feature either.
However, traces of DLVR were found in fresh versions of ASUS mainboards BIOS for new processors.
It is called CPU DLVR Bypass Mode Enable.
In this case the function itself does not work.
Turning it on or off has no effect.Image source: VideoCardzThe ASUS company's in-house overclocker, a.k.a.
Shamino, has said that the DLVR function is indeed supported on the company's latest motherboards, but Intel has disabled it on Raptor Lake CPUs themselves.
He also added that there is a possibility that future Intel chips will support it.Image source: ASUS ROG ForumsThe wording \"future processors\" draws attention.
The Raptor Lake chips are expected to be the last for Intel's LGA 1700 platform.
Expected after Raptor Lake processors Meteor Lake series will almost certainly require a new processor socket.
On the other hand, rumors that Intel is allegedly working on updated Raptor Lake Refresh chips are starting to appear in the web.
Presumably, they will be able to offer up to 20% lower power consumption compared to the current Raptor Lake models due to the DLVR function.

Intel hasn't changed its mind about building plants in Ohio and Germany despite the downturn in the industry - but it may cut its project budget

This week the pages of the Intel corporate blog featured a post by Keyvan Esfarjani, executive vice president in charge of manufacturing operations for the corporation around the world.
He tried to reassure investors that deteriorating macroeconomic conditions would not force Intel to abandon its plans to build new facilities in the U.S.
and Europe, although he acknowledged that funding for these projects should be carried out in proportion to projected demand.Source image: IntelThe main idea of the message of the Intel representative was that the company should already prepare for the future growth in demand for semiconductor products.
It takes three to five years to build a plant and equip it with the necessary equipment, and the company simply cannot afford to ignore future market demands.
Intel's management shares the experts' optimism, predicting an average semiconductor market turnover growth rate of 5 percent a year by the end of the decade.
By the end of the forecast period, the market capacity should double to $1 trillion, so the company considers it necessary to invest in the construction of new enterprises, even now, when the current situation is not favorable to it.The second important idea, which broadcasts the executive vice president of Intel - the need for geographical diversification of chip production.
With 80% of capacity concentrated in one tiny region (meaning Taiwan), semiconductor manufacturing is very vulnerable, according to Intel.
Reportedly, this week the company acquired ownership of a piece of land in Magdeburg where a chip packaging and testing facility will be built, and eventually a second one will appear.
The company has also signed a contract with Bechtel, a construction contractor that will start building new Intel facilities in Ohio.
Here, the corporation expects to master mass production of chips using Intel 18A technology by 2025, with the U.S.
Defense Department mentioned among the first customers.
At the first stage, Intel expects to invest at least $20 billion at this site.
A management representative made it clear that the company will work closely with German and Ohio state authorities to determine when and how much funding is needed for the relevant projects.
Intel in this regard is going to be guided by the needs of the market and plan its major expenditures wisely.

Leaked - Prices for select 6GHz Core i9-13900KS have been revealed

Canadian retailer PC-Canada has declassified ten planned Intel processors that will expand the Raptor Lake series.
Most of them are Core i9, Core i7 and Core i5 models without a \"K\" in the name, which have a reduced to 65W TDP rating.
However, the list also includes the flagship Core i9-13900KS model.Image source: IntelThe seller has indicated the price of the expected new products.
If converted to U.S.
dollars, prices are as follows:Core i9-13900KS: 24 cores, 32 threads, n/a-6.0 GHz - $725;Core i9-13900: 24 cores, 32 threads, 2.0-5.6 GHz - $615;Core i9-13900F: 24 cores, 32 threads, 2.0-5.6 GHz - $585;Core i7-13700: 16 cores, 24 threads, 2.1-5.2 GHz - $415;Core i7-13700F: 16 cores, 24 threads, 2.1-5.2 GHz - $390;Core i5-13500: 14 cores, 20 threads, 2.5-4.8 GHz - $258;Core i5-13400: 10 cores, 16 threads, 2.5-4.6 GHz - $245;Core i5-13400F: 10 cores, 16 threads, 2.5-4.6 GHz - $218;Core i3-13100: 4 cores, 8 threads, 3.4-4.5 GHz - $155;Core i3-13100F: 4 cores, 8 threads, 3.4-4.5 GHz - $125.
All new products should debut in January next year.
They will compete with processors Ryzen 7000.
And, apparently, Intel will have a significant advantage over the competitor for some time in the number of models and, accordingly, more flexible pricing.
Image source: PC-CanadaAs for the Core i9-13900KS: this 24-core, 32-core processor will be able to automatically overclock multiple cores to 6.0 GHz.
Based on the prices published by the Canadian retailer, the novelty will be about a third more expensive than the Core i9-13900K model offered in the same store.The official premiere of the remaining Intel Raptor Lake series processors is expected at the international electronics show CES 2023 in early January.
They will debut at the same time as motherboards on the Intel B760 chipset.
Like the older models, they will also be compatible with Intel's 600-series motherboards for Alder Lake processors.

NVIDIA took an even larger share of the discrete graphics market - Intel and AMD have 12%

The other day, thanks to a report from Jon Peddie Research (JPR), we learned that shipments of all types of graphics processors collapsed by 25% in the third quarter.
Now, thanks to the same analysts, we know how the discrete graphics card market changed over the same period.
In short - it fell even more, and AMD gave NVIDIA a serious share of this market.Image source: WCCFTechThe discrete graphics market sagged very strongly.
In the third quarter of 2022, the supply of graphics cards was only 14 million units, a drop of 41.6% compared to the same period last year, when the supply was 24 million graphics cards.
Even a quarter earlier the situation on the market was much better - in the second quarter of 2022 was delivered 19 million discrete graphics cards.Shipments of mobile and desktop graphics cards were divided equally - in each segment was delivered 7 million cards.
However, desktop cards previously dominated the market, with 10 million desktop boards shipped in the quarter versus 8.6 million mobile boards, and 13 million desktop boards versus 11.6 million mobile discrete graphics cards shipped in the third quarter of 2021.
NVIDIA saw its share of the discrete graphics market grow to 88% in the third quarter, up 8 percentage points from the quarter before.
As a result, AMD had only 8 percent of the discrete graphics market, down from 15 percent in the second quarter.
And the remaining 4 percent was taken by Intel.
In the desktop segment, AMD is doing slightly better - here it took 10 percent.
The remaining nine tenths of the market were divided between NVIDIA with 86% share and Intel with the same 4%.
As for the mobile segment, NVIDIA's dominance is even stronger - the company owns 90% of the market, while Intel and AMD equally shared the remaining 10%.Overall supply of graphics processors, both discrete and embedded, both mobile and desktop, is rapidly decreasing since the second quarter of 2021.
Then a sharp decline occurred in the third quarter, then in 2022, the market was relatively stable until the first quarter of this year, but after that again began to actively decline.
This is likely due to the economic and geopolitical instability in the world.Analysts expect that next year, sales of graphics processors will fall even more.
In 2024 the market will be steadily low, and the recovery will begin only in 2025.
But the growth will not be too significant.
These are tough times for the PC market: demand for PCs soared during the pandemic, and now the need for them is severely diminished.
The GPU market has been heavily influenced by mining, which has driven high discrete graphics sales.
Now the market is flooded with cheap used video cards from miners, and there are a lot of new gas pedals in stores now, but some are asking too much.

Intel fined $950 million for infringing one of VLSI's patents in Skylake processors

A jury in Texas has issued a verdict that Intel must pay VLSI Technology a $948.8 million fine for infringing a patent related to computer chips.
Source image: intel.comVLSI, which owns the patent, is affiliated with Fortress Investment Group, a SoftBank Group conglomerate.
In a six-day lawsuit, the plaintiff claimed that Intel's Cascade Lake and Skylake processors violate its patent related to data processing technology.
A representative of Intel said that the company \"strongly disagrees\" with the verdict and intends to appeal, and the case is \"one of many examples that show that the U.S.
patent system needs urgent reform\".In March of last year, VLSI won the patent litigation with Intel, in which the Texas court ordered the processor manufacturer to pay the plaintiff $2.18 billion - later the defendant filed an appeal, but without success.
In April VLSI lost another patent dispute with Intel.
At the last hearing the plaintiff's lawyer said that Intel's processors produce \"millions and millions of violations per second\".
Intel's representative insisted that the company's engineers developed all the solutions themselves and that the manufacturer's current processors no longer work with the outdated technology that VLSI is talking about.Two more VLSI cases against Intel are pending: in Northern California and Delaware.
The California case is due to begin in 2024.

Intel has hired an executive to promote Arc graphics cards that has turned ASUS into a leading PC gaming brand

Intel has gained a valuable executive with a wealth of experience.
Vivian Lien announced that she has already joined Intel's graphics division as vice president and general manager.
\"I can't wait to get into building the Intel Arc graphics graphics graphics graphics adapter business,\" she wrote on Linked In, and promised that \"there's more to come.
\"Image source: Vivian LienLien is expected to play an important role in promoting the next generation Intel Arc Battlemage discrete graphics cards as well as attracting Intel's PC-ready partners to incorporate these products into their systems.
Intel Arc Battlemage is expected to be the next evolution of Alchemist to compete with AMD and NVIDIA products.Image source: Vivian LienThe appointment of Lien to a senior position at Intel suggests that the company needs her expertise and extensive partner relationships in the gaming PC business.
Lien was at Corsair by the middle of the decade before last, but made her name and reputation with a successful career spanning years at ASUS in PC and component marketing.
In fact, she was instrumental in ASUS becoming one of the premier suppliers of gaming PCs and components.
For the past few years, Lien has been Dell's VP of Alienware and Dell Gaming.
So this is someone with a wealth of experience in promoting gaming PCs and components.Image source: IntelIf Intel really wants to succeed in commercializing its discrete graphics cards, appointing someone who has been in PC and component sales to this position looks like a good choice.
And beyond that, Vivien's appointment is the nail in the coffin of persistent rumors about scaling back development or cutting back Intel's discrete graphics Arc business.

MediaTek will reduce dependence on TSMC by outsourcing chip production to Intel and GlobalFoundries

Reducing dependence on TSMC and its Taiwanese facilities will be an important trend for MediaTek in coming years, as CEO of this mobile processor developer, Rick Tsai, made clear.
The company's CEO explained that the main factor behind this decision will be geographical diversification, as over-reliance on Taiwan concerns not only the company, but also its customers.
Large consumers of semiconductor products, according to Mr.
Tsai, will begin to require chip suppliers to use multiple sources of production: Taiwan will be combined with the U.S.
or Europe.
MediaTek is preparing for the emergence of such requirements and is gradually expanding the geography of its chips production, not just limited to Taiwan.As over time, MediaTek expects to increase the volume of sales of its chips in the U.S.
market, then the localization of production, it is ready to pay close attention.
When TSMC's chip contract manufacturing facility in Arizona will start operating, MediaTek hopes to become its customer.
In addition, the production of processors of this brand will be engaged in GlobalFoundries, which has enterprises in New York State and Singapore.
However, in this case we are talking about the use of not the most advanced lithography, but it is more important to diversify sources.Intel, which has repeatedly reported on cooperation with MediaTek, from the second half of 2024, as explained by Rick Tsai, will provide it with chips, which will be produced by Intel 16 technology in the enterprise in Ireland.
These components will find use in TVs and Wi-Fi routers, and do not require advanced lithography to produce them either.
This market segment is quite large, so the company considers cooperation with Intel in all seriousness.
The head of MediaTek personally observes progress in this area on an almost monthly basis.

Intel has released Optane P5810X - the last SSD with 3D XPoint memory

Intel has quietly and publicly started shipping the Optane P5810X SSD.
For the technology giant, this is likely the last series of solid state drives based on 3D XPoint nonvolatile memory.Image source: Intel Recall that in July this year Intel decided to phase out such devices and thereby get rid of this area of its business.
In 2020, Intel announced that it lost more than $500 million on the production of 3D XPoint memory and Optane drives based on them.The series of Intel Optane P5810X SSDs include models with capacities of 400 and 800 GB.
They come in 2.5-inch U.2 form factor and are equipped with PCI Express 4.0 x4 interface.
The manufacturer claims sequential read speed of 7200 MB/s for both models, and sequential write speed is 5,400 MB/s for the 800 GB version and 6,000 MB/s for the 400 GB model.
Performance in random read and write operations is 1.5 and 1.38 million IOPS, respectively.
Latency in these operations is 5 ns.
In regards to SSD lifespan, their DWPD (number of full writes per day) is 100.
A five-year manufacturer's warranty is claimed for the devices.Nothing is known about the cost of Optane P5810X SSDs.
It is also unclear how long the company plans to supply them.

Intel Equips Data Center GPU Max 1100 Accelerators with 12VHPWR Power Connector

Intel has equipped its Data Center GPU Max 1100 compute gas pedals in PCI Express expansion card format with a new 12+4-pin 12VHPWR power connector.
By doing so, the manufacturer followed the example of NVIDIA, which endowed this connector senior graphics cards GeForce RTX 40-series.Image source: IntelThe so-called PCIe 5.0 power connector, more often listed as 12VHPWR, or as a 12 + 4-pin connector, is not a technical requirement for power supplies, which claim to meet the ATX 3.0 standard.
However, all PSUs of this standard presented to date are equipped with at least one such connector.NVIDIA was the first company to adopt the new power connector for its next-generation gaming graphics cards.
This connector allows you to replace up to four common 8-pin PCIe connectors, and is able to transfer up to 600W of power.
The 12VHPWR connector will remain exclusive to NVIDIA graphics cards until January 2023.
That is when Intel plans to release server graphics gas pedals Data Center GPU Max 1100.
As for gaming graphics cards, neither AMD with its Radeon RX 7000 series graphics, nor Intel with its Arc Alchemist gas pedals have not decided to use the new power standard and use conventional 8-pin connectors.
So far, it is unknown exactly what is the cause of the problem and various theories have been put forward.
It is possible that the problem is caused by poor quality of the kit's adapters from four 8-pin connectors to one 12+4-pin connector.
Another theory says that users who didn't insert the connector all the way into the socket are to blame.
Let's hope that Intel gas pedals won't repeat the fate of some GeForce RTX 4090.

The share of laptops on Arm-processors will grow in the market by 10 times from 2020 to 2023 - Intel loses positions

Processors on Arm architecture are trying more and more actively to advance in the market of laptops.
According to experts at DigiTimes, by 2023 their share will be 13.9%.
Although at first glance it seems not very much in relation to the total mass, compared to 2020, the share will increase by 10 times - in that year such models on the market was only 1.4%.
In this case, Intel is actively losing ground in the mobile PC market.Image source: AppleAccording to Tom's Hardware, the DigiTimes report also reflects another trend - it seems that the dominance of Intel solutions in the notebook market is gradually coming to an end.
At the same time the whole segment is suffering from the current difficult macroeconomic situation and the decline in sales after the pandemic weakened.DigiTimes notes that the notebook market as a whole in 2022, there is a decline of 22.8 percent year-on-year - a total of about 190 million devices will be delivered.
However, experts predict a relative stabilization of demand in 2023 - sales should be about 200 million laptops.
Changes in sales will presumably fluctuate by up to 10%.An important role in the promotion of Arm-architecture in the market of laptops was played by Apple, which began in 2020 to promote MacBook on its own Arm-chipset.
For its part, Qualcomm is improving its solutions for Windows.
In addition, sales of Chromebooks on Arm have also recently received a certain impetus, but to a lesser extent than other platforms.Meanwhile, Intel is losing its leadership in the laptop segment due to a number of problems.
In addition to Arm processors that have challenged the hegemony of the x86 architecture, AMD is gaining ground.
Ryzen models have proven to be competitive in the notebook market, so they are increasingly trusted by manufacturers and customers.
According to DigiTimes, while Intel's share of the notebook market in 2016 was 82.2% (AMD accounted for 17.8% in the same year), in Q2 2022 Intel had only 63.5% of the market, while AMD strengthened its position to 36.4%.It is assumed that from 2024 will come other important changes - Qualcomm intends to introduce computer chipsets based on Nuvia developments, which will give new impetus to the Arm-architecture promotion.

Intel has unveiled Data Center GPU Max gas pedals - up to 2.4x faster than NVIDIA A100

Intel has announced Data Center GPU Max GPU Accelerators.
Previously known by the codename Ponte Vecchio, they are now officially part of the Intel Max series, which includes the previously announced Xeon Max Xeon Sapphire Rapids server processors with HBM2e chipset memory.Image source: IntelAt the SC22 event focused on server hardware and AI, Intel has shared the performance of its new products.
The Intel Data Center GPU Max gas pedal includes 128 Xe cores and 128 RT cores, making it the only server gas pedals with native support for hardware ray tracing acceleration.
The company also claims up to 64 Mbytes of L1 cache memory and up to 408 Mbytes of L2 cache memory for them.
Intel Data Center GPU Max GPUs combine 100 million transistors comprising 47 chipsets built using different manufacturing processes (Intel 7, TSMC N5 and TSMC N7), which are interconnected via EMIB interfaces and Foveros packaging technology on a single substrate.
Intel Data Center GPU Max Server Computing Accelerators will be available in different form factors designed for different tasks.
The PCI Express expansion card solutions will come as part of the Max 1100 series and offer 300W TDP, 56 Xe cores, and 48GB of HBM2e memory.
Max 1350 will be available as a 450W OAM-module, with a TDP of 112 Xe cores and 96GB of HBM2e memory.
They will be equipped with 112 Xe cores and 96 GB of HBM2e memory.
The most powerful solutions in the form of Max 1550 OAM-modules will have a TDP of 600 watts and get 128 Xe cores as well as 128 GB of HBM2e memory.
The company notes that the Xe-HPC architecture of the new compute gas pedals allows up to eight OAM modules to be combined.
Intel provided details on the following configurations:One OAM module: 128GB HBM2e, 128 Xe cores, 600W TDP, 52Tflops performance, 3.2TB/s memory bandwidth;Two OAM modules: 256GB HBM2e, 256 Xe cores, 1200W TDP, 104 Tflops performance, 6.4 Tbytes/s memory bandwidth;Four OAM modules: 512GB HBM2e, 512 Xe cores, 2400W TDP, 208Tflops performance, 12.8TB/s memory bandwidth.The manufacturer claims each OAM module is up to two times faster than a single NVIDIA A100 compute gas pedal in ExaSMR OpenMC and miniBUDE tasks.
Performance in ExaSMR NekRS tasks at Data Center GPU Max is 1.5 times faster than the competitor.
In Riskfuel, Intel Data Center GPU Max gas pedals provide 2.4 times better performance than the competitor's solution.
Intel also reminded that the successor of Ponte Vecchio will be Rialto Bridge computing gas pedals.
They got up to 160 Xe cores and a new OAM 2.0 form factor, which allows power consumption at 800W.

Intel Announces Xeon Max - World's First x86 Processors with HBM Memory

Intel has announced Xeon Max, a series of processors equipped with HBM2e high speed memory, and according to the company it is the world's first CPUs with HBM.
Previously these chips appeared under the codename Sapphire Rapids HBM.
The processors offer up to 56 cores with support for 112 virtual threads and have a TDP of 350W, and they are designed for high-performance server systems.Image source: IntelThe Xeon Max processors use an EMIB interface that integrates four chips with compute cores, as well as located next to the same substrate 64 GB of high-speed HBM2e memory, split into four clusters of 16 GB each.
The total bandwidth is about 1 Tbyte/s.
So there is more than 1GB of HBM2e memory per processor core.
Key features of the Xeon Max are support for PCIe 5.0 and CXL 1.1 interfaces.
HBM2e memory can be used both as additional cache and as additional RAM.
Moreover, a server with Xeon Max can be equipped with no RAM modules at all - the system will rely solely on HBM.
The company claims that Xeon Max power consumption is 68% lower than that of AMD Milan-X processors for the same performance.
The Xeon Max's support for the new AMX instructions speeds up AI-related tasks and provides an eight-fold increase in peak performance over AVX-512 instructions in INT8 and INT32 operations.
Intel says the Xeon Max is up to five times faster in some types of operations compared to the Intel Xeon 8380 or AMD EPYC 7773X (Milan-X with 3D V-Cache technology).
The presentation also compares the Xeon Max to the AMD EPYC 7763, against which the new Intel product shows up to 3.6 times better performance.
Compared to the NVIDIA A100 server computing gas pedal in the MLPerf DeepCAM test, which deals with calculations that accelerate and augment simulations on supercomputers using AI, Xeon Max is up to 1.2 times faster than the competitor.
The Xeon Max series of server processors will hit the market in January 2023.
Key competitors to Xeon Max will be AMD's new EPYC Genoa processors.
Their announcement is expected tomorrow, November 10.
According to rumors, these processors will be available as solutions equipped with HBM memory.

Intel will finally release Sapphire Rapids server processors in January - their release has been delayed since 2021

Intel has set a release date for its 4th generation Xeon Scalable server processors, better known by their codename Sapphire Rapids.
The company will release chips based on the new Intel 7 manufacturing process technology, scheduled for January 10 next year.Image source: IntelIntel said it is ready to present solutions that \"meet the requirements for the product being released.\" This wording could mean that not all Sapphire Rapids processor models planned for release will be released at the same time.
This will apply only to those models that have passed all necessary tests and are ready for mass production.
Earlier it was reported that during the development of processors Sapphire Rapids since the announcement the company had to fix about 500 bugs, as well as release 12 different stepping chips - from A0 to E5.As it became known from a recent report of the analyst company TrenForce, the reason for the continued postponed release of Sapphire Rapids is a significant amount of manufacturing defects.
In particular, Intel has faced with a low yield of good chips in the mass production chipsets MCC processors Sapphire Rapids.
These chipsets are produced using the Intel 7 process technology.
The number of quality chips is only 50-60% of the total production volume.
In such circumstances, the transition to mass production of Sapphire Rapids seemed to the company economically impractical, so the manufacturer is trying to eliminate the problem.
Source image: VideoCardzThe Intel Sapphire Rapids processors are designed for Eagle Stream platform, which is announced to support PCIe 5.0 interface and DDR5 RAM.
The platform will also be used by 5th generation Xeon Scalable processors, code-named Emerald Rapids, which are also expected to launch next year.
Sapphire Rapids processors will offer up to 56 processing cores on Golden Cove architecture.

Intel faces high defect rate in production of Sapphire Rapids server chips

Release of new Intel Sapphire Rapids server processors on the new Intel 7 process technology has been postponed several times already.
According to the last plan, the manufacturer was going to start mass production in the fourth quarter of this year.
However, in a recent report TrendForce analysts said that the company will move the start of mass production of Sapphire Rapids in the first quarter of 2023.Image source: IntelThe reason for the transfer of experts call the significant amount of manufacturing defects.
In particular, Intel has faced with a low yield of good chips in the mass production of chipsets MCC processors Sapphire Rapids.
These chipsets are produced using the Intel 7 process technology.
It is reported that the number of quality MCC chiplets is only 50-60% of the total production volume.
In such circumstances, the transition to mass production of Sapphire Rapids does not look economically viable, so the manufacturer will try to eliminate the problem.
Delayed mass production of server processors Sapphire Rapids will force the OEMs of server equipment and cloud computing providers to delay the launch of new projects based on them, experts say.
AMD could take advantage of the situation.
As pointed out by TrendForce, its share of the server market in 2023 could grow from 15% to 22%.
Given the fact that AMD supplies the server chips, which have a large number of cores, many companies may choose them as a basis for their solutions.
The TrendForce report also points out that due to rising costs of operating the server equipment, amid rising global energy prices, more companies choose to use single-processor server platforms.
At the same time, Intel and its company Altera had problems with the supply of entry-level FPGA, which are used in motherboards with multiple sockets, as a result of the shortage led to a reduction in the supply of dual-processor systems.
As an alternative, manufacturers are looking toward CPLDs from Lattice, but it too is currently in short supply.This is why cloud server holders and server OEMs have increased their interest in AMD's solutions, which have proven to be easier and simultaneously cheaper to use.
According to TrendForce, by the fourth quarter of 2023, AMD will increase the share of its processors in the global market to 25%.

Intel says it's already winning back its position in the PC market from AMD and isn't going to stop

Intel management at its quarterly reporting event began by saying that revenue in the customer area, while down 17% year over year, has consistently grown by 6%.
The sales structure of Intel components in this sector changed so that the average selling price increased.
The company was able to strengthen its position in the customer segment, and the Intel management is full of confidence that it will be able to do so in the future.Image source: Intel CEO Patrick Gelsinger even let it slip that in the third quarter Intel stepped up work with those of its customers who were willing to accelerate the purchase of the product in light of the upcoming price hikes in the fourth quarter.
According to the company's management, this led to the strengthening of Intel's position in the client segment in the third quarter.
At the same time, revenue in the segment as a whole fell by 17% year-on-year due to the majority of customers having excess products in stock.If we consider revenue from products for the desktop segment, in the third quarter, Intel's revenue increased by 3.3% year-on-year to $3.22 billion, which for the declining market as a whole is not so bad.
In the notebook segment, revenue for the year was down 25.8% to $4.4 billion.
As Patrick Gelsinger pointed out, in the PC segment the company has \"fundamentally increased its market share\", and its existing product lines in terms of competitive positioning are very strong.Intel management is not confused by the possibility of a decline in PC sales in the global market to levels below those seen before the pandemic, although they are convinced that this will not happen at all.
It's just that so many computers were sold during the pandemic that if they have to be replaced sooner or later with new ones, Intel will definitely get its piece of the pie.
According to Gelsinger, Intel's product line is positioned in such a way that it can expect to further increase its market share.
Moreover, the sagging demand is more pronounced in the segment of low-cost PCs, and Intel is now focusing on more expensive offerings.As the head of Intel added, Alder Lake and Raptor Lake processors are showing impressive performance, and preparations for the Meteor Lake release next year are in full swing.
The recently unveiled Raptor Lake processors do show superiority over existing AMD solutions in terms of performance, according to independent tests.
At the same time, Intel products also turn out to be cheaper, so it is easy to explain the confidence of the company's management in the revenge on the consumer market.