Intel is preparing for the future and making big changes in the way it designs chips
For more than 30 years, Intel has made a name with its CPUs, which rule the PC and server markets. Chip advances have helped Intel make devices smaller, faster, and more power-efficient.
Computing is now spreading into cars, robots, drones, smart devices, and a wide range of other electronics. Chip requirements have changed with new hardware and applications like artificial intelligence and graphics.
Intel is preparing for the future and making big changes in the way it designs chips. It is realizing that CPUs aren’t a big enough business model and has acquired a wide variety of chips to put into devices. The company is even researching quantum computers and neuromorphic chips.
Intel intends to team up its CPUs with Altera FPGAs in cars and Movidius computer vision chips in drones. It will also use its Nervana deep-learning chips in servers and other devices. Intel will make chips for different types of computers but also offer faster throughput inside its chips with its new design approach.
The fresh approach to chip design is necessitated by a slowdown in Moore’s Law, and difficulties in making smaller chips. Some applications like AI also need superfast throughput inside chips.
One of Intel’s changes is a mix-and-match heterogeneous design where different types of cores can be put in a single chip package. Under the new design, it’ll be possible to mix different architectures on a single chip. Chip packages could also have cores made using different manufacturing processes.
Another technology improvement is the EMIB, or Embedded Multi-die Interconnect Bridge, which allows for the integration of multiple chips inside a single package using a much higher-bandwidth interconnect than alternative technologies.
