Intel Xeon 7: Can 18A and 3D Packaging Turn the Tide?

2025-08-29
Intel Xeon 7: Can 18A and 3D Packaging Turn the Tide?

With AMD holding over 40% revenue and 27% shipment share of the x86 server CPU market in the first half of 2025, Intel is betting on its Xeon 7 processors (Clearwater Rapids and Clearwater Forest), launching in 2026, to regain ground. These CPUs leverage the 18A process, 2.5D EMIB interconnect, and Foveros 3D stacking—technologies first deployed (with delays) in the datacenter with the ill-fated Ponte Vecchio. The success of Xeon 7 hinges on stemming AMD's momentum and countering the rise of hyperscaler's custom Arm server CPUs. While the energy-efficient E-core variants have a niche market, they aid Intel in refining its 18A process and 3D packaging. This article details the architecture of the Clearwater Forest E-core processor, including its improved RibbonFET transistors, PowerVia backside power delivery, and 3D packaging, and analyzes its performance potential.

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Hardware

IBM's Power11 Processor: A Balanced Act of Memory and I/O

2025-07-18
IBM's Power11 Processor: A Balanced Act of Memory and I/O

IBM launched the Power11 processor, an upgrade to the Power10, primarily improving core utilization and supporting DDR5 memory. Power11 maintains a strong balance between memory and I/O, even under massive memory and peripheral demands, making it competitive for large transactional database management systems. Despite manufacturing process challenges and delays, Power11 overcame hurdles through a partnership with Samsung, improving instruction sets and architecture. The article also explores future Power11 upgrades, such as expanding DCM modules to boost scalability to meet growing computational demands.

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Hardware server processor

Quantum Computing's Commercial Dawn: QuEra Computing's Breakthrough

2025-06-24
Quantum Computing's Commercial Dawn: QuEra Computing's Breakthrough

QuEra Computing is making significant strides, accelerating the path to practical quantum computing. The company has successfully deployed quantum computers to research institutions in Japan and the UK and secured substantial funding to further R&D and partnerships. QuEra's unique neutral-atom technology offers advantages in size, power consumption, and scalability, promising commercial value in chemistry, pharmaceuticals, and materials science within the next few years. The industry's positive outlook on quantum computing is underscored by massive investments and active participation from tech giants.

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Europe's First Exascale Supercomputer, Jupiter: An Nvidia-Powered Beast with Arm Aspirations

2025-06-14
Europe's First Exascale Supercomputer, Jupiter: An Nvidia-Powered Beast with Arm Aspirations

The Forschungszentrum Jülich's long-awaited exascale supercomputer, Jupiter, has finally debuted on the Top500 list. This hybrid CPU-GPU machine, built by Eviden and ParTec, boasts a GPU booster module that ranked fourth in the June HPL benchmark. While heavily reliant on Nvidia GPUs and interconnect technology, Jupiter incorporates a Universal Cluster module based on SiPearl's Rhea1 Arm CPU, signifying a move towards European HPC independence. However, reaching the full exascale FP64 performance goal requires further expansion of GPU nodes. The €500 million project highlights the substantial investment in high-performance computing, with a significant portion allocated to hardware and software.

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Tech

Armv9: Higher Royalties Fuel Arm's $4B+ Revenue Surge

2025-05-18
Armv9: Higher Royalties Fuel Arm's $4B+ Revenue Surge

Arm's Armv9 architecture, unveiled four years ago, boasts higher royalty fees than its predecessors, significantly contributing to record-breaking revenue. In Q4 FY25, Arm surpassed $1 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time, reaching over $4 billion annually, with royalty revenue exceeding $2 billion. Smartphone chip royalties surged 30%, outpacing shipment growth. The server market also shows strong Armv9 adoption by major players like Nvidia, Google, and Microsoft. This success stems from Arm's leading position in AI cloud deployments and the growing demand for custom silicon solutions, driving license and royalty growth.

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Amazon's Ocelot Quantum Chip: A Giant Leap Towards Practical Quantum Computing

2025-03-03
Amazon's Ocelot Quantum Chip: A Giant Leap Towards Practical Quantum Computing

The race towards practical quantum computing is heating up! Amazon Web Services (AWS) unveiled Ocelot, a groundbreaking quantum chip that tackles the persistent challenge of error correction. Unlike previous approaches that added error correction as an afterthought, Ocelot integrates it from the ground up, leveraging 'cat qubits' to effectively suppress errors and dramatically reduce costs (up to 90%). This significant advancement promises to accelerate the timeline for a practical quantum computer by up to five years. Coupled with similar advancements from Google (Willow) and Microsoft (Majorana), the future of quantum computing looks brighter than ever, poised to revolutionize various tech sectors.

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Amazon's AI Spending Spree: A $100B+ Bet on the Future

2025-02-07
Amazon's AI Spending Spree: A $100B+ Bet on the Future

Amazon plans to spend over $100 billion in capital expenditures in 2025, with a significant portion (estimated at over $86 billion) dedicated to building out AI infrastructure for its AWS cloud services. This massive investment reflects Amazon's strong belief in AI and its potential for future growth. While the short-term investment-to-revenue ratio is high, Amazon's financial model projects a substantial long-term return on investment for its AI infrastructure, explaining the company's aggressive approach to the AI market.

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Red Hat Undercuts VMware With OpenShift Virtualization Engine

2025-01-16
Red Hat Undercuts VMware With OpenShift Virtualization Engine

Following Broadcom's acquisition of VMware and subsequent pricing changes, many enterprise users are seeking alternatives. Red Hat is capitalizing on this with the launch of OpenShift Virtualization Engine (OVE), a virtualization-focused platform designed to attract VMware customers. OVE leverages the OpenShift platform, removing container capabilities to provide a pure virtualization solution. Integrated with Advanced Cluster Management (ACM) and Ansible automation, OVE simplifies VM migration and management. Red Hat also offers migration tools and professional services to ease the transition, particularly for large enterprises with substantial VM deployments.

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Tech