Intel: Counterattack in the Server CPU Market

The chip manufacturer Intel has been struggling with declining revenues and profits in the server CPU segment in recent years. The main reason was competition from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), which overtook Intel with their high-performance EPYC processors. AMD's current Genoa processor family impresses with high core counts, strong performance, and efficient power consumption, while Intel's last release, Emerald Rapids, could only keep up to a limited extent due to technical issues. Another factor contributing to Intel's difficulties is the increasing focus on AI accelerators like GPUs in data centers, which has reduced the demand for traditional server CPUs. Despite this ongoing challenge, Intel has since made technological advances. With the official introduction of the new Granite Rapids generation of server CPUs on Tuesday, Intel has taken a significant step forward. Under the brand name Xeon 6 with P-Cores, Granite Rapids offers up to 128 powerful cores, significantly surpassing the previous 64 cores of the Emerald Rapids series. This new series, based on the Intel 3 manufacturing process, promises double the performance with improved efficiency and AI acceleration capabilities. Independent reviews confirm Intel's progress: according to Phoronix, the top model Xeon 6 6980P was able to outperform the competition in most benchmarks, although it lagged behind AMD's EPYC chips in some tests. Especially in AI workloads, Intel's new processor demonstrated impressive performance values. While Granite Rapids outperforms AMD's current Genoa CPUs in some areas, the introduction of the next AMD generation, Turin, is already anticipated in the second half of the year. This could again provide a performance advantage. Nonetheless, Intel has achieved a significantly improved competitive position with Granite Rapids and looks optimistically to upcoming releases, including the next generation codenamed Diamond Rapids. Overall, it appears that Intel is finally competitive again with Granite Rapids and could leave the worst times in the data center segment behind.