Intel promised that Ice Lake-SP processors will be faster than 64-core AMD Rome. But AMD is on the way to Milan.

Intel Xeon Scalable processors remain the basis for building HPC and cloud systems for tasks using artificial intelligence. In addition to support for AVX-512, DL Boost and Optane PMem instructions, the new Ice Lake-SPs will be able to offer an increase in the number of executable instructions per clock (IPC) around 18 %. Among other benefits, it allows, according to Intel, its 32-core chips to outperform AMD Rome's 64-core solutions.

Of course, we are talking about specific tasks that take advantage of Intel's instruction sets like AVX-512, but nevertheless. Recall: Ice Lake-SPs will get extended memory bandwidth (8 DDR4-3200 channels, up to 6 Tbytes of RAM per contact pad) and increased performance in the AVX-512. Depending on the task, the new chips will bypass the previous generation of Cascade Lake in popular loads by 1.2–1.6 times. According to Intel, when evaluating the performance of floating point computing in SPECcpu2017 (fp), the increase in new processors is impressive 38 % compared to its predecessors on the Skylake architecture with the same number of cores at the same clock speed.

Anyway, Intel also has to follow the AMD kilwater and increase the number of cores. If previously the company offered a maximum of 28 cores, in Ice Lake-SP company is no longer shy 32 cores with a base frequency of 2.2 GHz and an unknown TDP. And recently there were rumors that the most expensive offers of the family will offer 38 cores with TDP over 200 W.

In this quarter, Intel plans to deliver the first processors to HPC customers, and a full-scale launch will take place in the first quarter of 2021. AMD's opponent by that time will be not the processors of Rome generation, but the next one, Milan. In them, AMD has optimized the cores, cache operation, improved the memory controller, reduced latency in all weak points. And the improved technical process will allow increasing the frequencies. All this may further shift the scale in favor of AMD in the HPC segment, but it will still be very difficult for AMD to fight against Intel's almost monopoly position in this sector.

Architectural advantages will accelerate growth of AMD share in server segment

Experts acknowledge that AMD's strengthening of its position in the server processor market has not been so fast so far, but it will accelerate in the future. The company itself no longer makes projections on the timing of certain milestones, but does not rule out the possibility that it will be able to update the historical maximum around 26 %.

Image source: AKIBA PC Hotline

As noted by Seeking Alpha, analysts from Wells Fargo predict AMD a more active growth of market share in the server segment in subsequent periods, based on the results of its marketing research. Although AMD's market share growth in the period after the release of the Rome EPYC generation processors with Zen 2 architecture was not noticeable, in the future the company can accelerate based on the architectural advantages of its processors. What experts mean by this formulation is difficult to say, but we are certainly talking about the layout and architectural features of EPYC processors, which allow AMD to create a competitive product with moderate costs. Wells Fargo does not write off the CDNA computing gas pedals, which are due to debut this month. At the current stock price of $84.88 Wells Fargo analysts raise their forecast to $100 per share.