Intel will release 144 core Xeon Sierra Forest processors in 2024
Hardware

Intel will release 144-core Xeon Sierra Forest processors in 2024

During a recent webinar on data center technologies and AI, Intel shared the next plans for the development of its Xeon processors. By 2025, the manufacturer will release several new server-level processor families.

    Image source: Intel

Image source: Intel

In the fourth quarter of this year, the company will release 5th generation Xeon scalable processors, codenamed Emerald Rapids. They become direct heirs to the Sapphire Rapids line of processors. At the event, Intel showed off an unnamed Emerald Rapids processor model. It consists of two main and one auxiliary chiplet.

To compete with the upcoming AMD EPYC Bergamo processors on the cloud-optimized Zen 4c architecture, Intel will release Xeon chips codenamed Sierra Forest in the first half of 2024. AMD EPYC Bergamo will be able to offer up to 128 cores.

A feature of the new Xeon Sierra Forest will be the use of up to 144 cores. At the same time, these chips will use energy-efficient E cores for the first time in the Xeon series. The Company added that the development of Sierra Forest is proceeding according to plan. These processors are made using the Intel Process 3.

Sierra Forest and Granite Rapids processors will use the same platform, codenamed Birch Stream. Granite Rapids chips should come out just after Sierra Forest. They will belong to the sixth generation of the scalable Xeon processors.


Intel said the Granite Rapids platform will deliver 1.5 TB/s of DDR5 memory bandwidth, up to 80% more than the manufacturer’s current server offerings. The company also confirmed that Granite Rapids will support DDR5-8800 RAM in MCR (Multiplexer Combined Ranks) mode. MCR technology uses an extra “layer” in the form of a data buffer between the RAM and the processor.

In 2025, Intel will release the Clearwater Forest processor series. They will be the direct heirs to Sierra Forest and will also use power efficient cores. Clearwater Forest is manufactured using Intel 18A process technology. These are the first Xeon processors to be launched using this manufacturing process.