Intel unveils innovative server processor technology developed in Israel
Intel has unveiled its next-generation server processor architecture, Diamond Rapids. The innovative computing block technology was developed under the leadership of the company's R&D center in Israel.
Intel unveiled the architecture of the company's next generation of server processors, Diamond Rapids, which includes innovative technology developed under the leadership of a team from the company's R&D center in Israel. According to Intel, this event marks an expansion of the responsibilities of the Israeli R&D operation.
"The knowledge built in Israel over many years in developing processors for personal computers now serves as the basis for developing a central computing unit in the next-generation server architecture," the company stated.
Intel is currently in the midst of a renewed momentum in light of the rising demand for central processors in AI data centers. Unlike graphics processors (GPUs), which are necessary for the training phase of AI models, central processors are better suited for the inference phase of the models. With the accelerated entry of autonomous AI agents into business environments, the demand for these processors is on the rise. Intel's offering in the central processor segment is considered particularly high quality.
At the Hot Chips conference held this week in Silicon Valley, Intel unveiled the Diamond Rapids architecture, which will form the basis for producing the next generation of Xeon processors for data centers. The processors, which will support up to 256 cores, will be built on the basis of four modular computing units of the CBB (Computer Building Block) type, developed under the leadership of the R&D center in Israel.
This is a new area of responsibility for the local R&D center, whose contribution to Xeon processors was previously focused mainly on developing the processor's performance core. However, after the development team delivered several breakthroughs in energy efficiency and performance with the Lunar Lake processor series for laptops, Intel decided to ask the team to extend these principles to the server field and entrusted the team with designing the computing unit in the Diamond Rapids architecture.
According to Intel, a key challenge in operating processors with hundreds of cores is fast and efficient access of the cores to the rest of the system components. The CBB unit consolidates up to 64 cores and allows them to operate as a single computing cluster. This provides all cores with consistent access to memory and a modular structure that allows adaptation to different server systems.
"For years we have developed in Israel entire architectures for personal computer processors, while in the server world we focused mainly on developing the processor's performance core," said Eran Shifer, the chief architect of the CBB unit, in a press release. "In Diamond Rapids, we received broader responsibility. We took the capabilities we developed in Israel in the fields of performance and energy efficiency, expanded them to work with a significantly larger number of cores, and built around them an entire computing unit for the next generation of Xeon. This transition required us to deal with a new scale, a three-dimensional structure, and systemic complexity far greater than that required in developing only the processor core."
The development teams in Israel also took part in developing data protection capabilities during processing.
"The challenge was to expand the memory without expanding the data exposure area," said Boaz Tamir, senior director of Intel's secure computing field. "The engineers in Israel helped adapt the protection mechanisms to the new structure of Diamond Rapids, so that the data could remain isolated and encrypted even when it is stored in additional memory connected to the server. In addition, we developed a simpler way to verify that the server is indeed running a protected environment before transferring sensitive information to it."
