Chipmakers Churn

By Michael Feldman

January 13, 2011

This week’s maneuverings by Intel and AMD point to a couple of inescapable realities for the legacy x86 chipmakers, namely, mobile computing platforms are the new PCs and serious GPU technology is no longer optional. In short, the playing field for general-purpose computing is being leveled, and this relandscaping is working to the detriment of the x86 dynasty.

That realization appears, at least in part, to have encouraged Intel to agree to a new six-year cross-licensing deal with NVIDIA. The lawsuit settlement between the two chipmakers announced on Monday puts the rivals back on speaking terms. It also puts an extra $1.5 billion in NVIDIA’s pocket, the amount Intel has agreed to pay the GPU maker over the next five years.

Given Intel’s lack of a mobile computing presence on smart phones or tablets, and the fact that the Larrabee fiasco essentially foreclosed the company’s visual computing aspirations, Intel probably didn’t have much of a choice. NVIDIA, who offers viable technologies in both the mobile computing space, with Tegra, and the graphics/visualization space with its discrete GPU offerings, has managed to expand into two areas Intel deems critical to its future.

In a nutshell, the agreement provides cross-licensing access to each other’s patents. However, it’s not a license to repurpose one another’s chip designs; rather its an understanding not to sue each other when they bump up against their competitor’s patents. This is important because both NVIDIA and Intel own rich patent portfolios that apply to many areas of computing. Without such an understanding, it’s nearly impossible for engineers to design anything without inadvertently stepping into someone else’s territory. It gives both parties the freedom to build CPUs, GPUs, and everything in between without having to worry about who came up with the original ideas.

The agreement explicitly prevents NVIDIA from licensing Intel’s x86 cores, flash memory, and certain chipsets. But since NVIDIA just revealed its ARM-based “Project Denver” strategy for CPU-GPU integration last week, that doesn’t seem nearly the sacrifice it once might have been. Furthermore, NVIDIA has decided to exit the chipset business, so there was no reason to include those terms in the new agreement.

On the other side, Intel will not be slapping NVIDIA GPUs onto x86 chips. The CPU maker has had access to NVIDIA’s GPU portfolio since 2004, the year the original six-year cross-licensing agreement was made, but they don’t get to see the patents until about three and a half years after they’ve been filed. (This is very different from what NVIDIA is doing with its ARM core license deal. Under that agreement, the GPU maker will be provided with the netlist, the IC floorplan, and support — everything it will need to develop its CPU-GPU heterogeneous processors.) It’s unclear how Intel will use the new cross-licensing arrangement to move forward in the graphics/visualization space, but it certainly has more latitude to develop and use GPU technology than it otherwise would have had.

The fact that the transfer of wealth is going in NVIDIA’s favor indicates Intel needs the GPU maker’s intellectual property far more than the other way around. NVIDIA’s patents in mobile, graphics/visualization, and data parallel computing technologies are especially valuable, whereas Intel’s x86-based patents are of much less value to a fully-ARMed NVIDIA.

While this is great news for NVIDIA, and at least good news for Intel, it’s bad news for AMD. With Intel freer to use its considerable resources to pursue graphics and mobile technologies, AMD could face increased competition, especially on the GPU side of the house. And since NVIDIA is pursuing a very Fusion-like heterogenous computing strategy with Project Denver (and now has more patent leeway to design such chips), AMD is going to be hit harder from both directions.

It’s almost certainly a coincidence that the “resignation” of AMD CEO Dirk Meyer was announced on the same day the NVIDIA-Intel agreement was revealed. But according to many who cover the mainstream computing segment, Meyer was forced out by the board for some of the same troubles that are plaguing Intel, namely a lack of product in the red-hot tablet and smartphone segments. Like its larger rival, AMD has been heavily focused on the PC and laptop space and is a late entrant into the mobile computing market.

In a GigaOM piece this week, Stacey Higginbotham writes:

[Intel] has revised its architecture for better graphics performance with its Sandy Bridge platform and isn’t sleeping like AMD seems to have been when it comes to the threat to its business from ARM and mobile computing. On that note, AMD’s CEO Dirk Meyer resigned today, most likely as a result of AMD’s failure to move quickly a few years back into the mobile computing and now the tablet market. Even as recently as last June, AMD had no mobile story, with executive Rick Bergman telling me at our Structure conference that AMD doesn’t have “any immediate clients to serve the mobile form factor,” but that it planned to move forward on that.

Apparently though, Meyer was also blamed for losing market share in its server business. The Opteron, once the darling of server makers, has been steadily losing ground to Xeon, thanks to a rearchitected CPU, beginning with Intel’s Nehalem generation. Even though the company essentially invented 64-bit x86 computing, AMD never fully managed to capitalize on that accomplishment.

To blame Meyer for all this seems a little silly, though. AMD’s fortunes have been tied to its volume CPU and future volume CPU-GPU Fusion business for some time, certainly before Meyer took over the reins from former CEO Hector Ruiz in 2008. More than anything else, the company’s declining share in the server space was a result of Intel adopting features from AMD’s superior architecture.

It’s even more problematic to point to Meyer for AMD’s poor showing in the mobile space. Even Intel, with much larger R&D resources, has not managed to crack this market yet. The fact the x86 architecture is not particularly competitive with say an ARM, or even a MIPs architecture for low-power mobile and embedded platforms doesn’t help. And in any case, the software ecosystem in this segment now favors ARM over any would-be competitors.

Thomas Seifert, AMD’s chief financial officer and senior VP, has been appointed interim CEO, but the long term plan is to fill the role with someone more visionary and dynamic than either Meyer or Ruiz. Given the company’s dependence on x86 and its somewhat fragmented product set — CPUs (client and server), CPU-GPU Fusion processors, and discrete GPUs — it remains to be seen whether a new face at the top will have much effect.

The chipmaker churn we’ve witnessed over the past couple of weeks reminds us that there’s a new dynamic at work. Gone are the days when the x86 dictates everything in mainstream computing. The rise of mobile computing, the spread of graphics processor technology, and the importance of power efficiency are realigning the industry and shifting alliances. And this is likely just the beginning.

Subscribe to HPCwire's Weekly Update!

Be the most informed person in the room! Stay ahead of the tech trends with industry updates delivered to you every week!

Nvidia’s New Blackwell GPU Can Train AI Models with Trillions of Parameters

March 18, 2024

Nvidia's latest and fastest GPU, code-named Blackwell, is here and will underpin the company's AI plans this year. The chip offers performance improvements from its predecessors, including the red-hot H100 and A100 GPUs. Read more…

Nvidia Showcases Quantum Cloud, Expanding Quantum Portfolio at GTC24

March 18, 2024

Nvidia’s barrage of quantum news at GTC24 this week includes new products, signature collaborations, and a new Nvidia Quantum Cloud for quantum developers. While Nvidia may not spring to mind when thinking of the quant Read more…

2024 Winter Classic: Meet the HPE Mentors

March 18, 2024

The latest installment of the 2024 Winter Classic Studio Update Show features our interview with the HPE mentor team who introduced our student teams to the joys (and potential sorrows) of the HPL (LINPACK) and accompany Read more…

Houston We Have a Solution: Addressing the HPC and Tech Talent Gap

March 15, 2024

Generations of Houstonian teachers, counselors, and parents have either worked in the aerospace industry or know people who do - the prospect of entering the field was normalized for boys in 1969 when the Apollo 11 missi Read more…

Apple Buys DarwinAI Deepening its AI Push According to Report

March 14, 2024

Apple has purchased Canadian AI startup DarwinAI according to a Bloomberg report today. Apparently the deal was done early this year but still hasn’t been publicly announced according to the report. Apple is preparing Read more…

Survey of Rapid Training Methods for Neural Networks

March 14, 2024

Artificial neural networks are computing systems with interconnected layers that process and learn from data. During training, neural networks utilize optimization algorithms to iteratively refine their parameters until Read more…

Nvidia’s New Blackwell GPU Can Train AI Models with Trillions of Parameters

March 18, 2024

Nvidia's latest and fastest GPU, code-named Blackwell, is here and will underpin the company's AI plans this year. The chip offers performance improvements from Read more…

Nvidia Showcases Quantum Cloud, Expanding Quantum Portfolio at GTC24

March 18, 2024

Nvidia’s barrage of quantum news at GTC24 this week includes new products, signature collaborations, and a new Nvidia Quantum Cloud for quantum developers. Wh Read more…

Houston We Have a Solution: Addressing the HPC and Tech Talent Gap

March 15, 2024

Generations of Houstonian teachers, counselors, and parents have either worked in the aerospace industry or know people who do - the prospect of entering the fi Read more…

Survey of Rapid Training Methods for Neural Networks

March 14, 2024

Artificial neural networks are computing systems with interconnected layers that process and learn from data. During training, neural networks utilize optimizat Read more…

PASQAL Issues Roadmap to 10,000 Qubits in 2026 and Fault Tolerance in 2028

March 13, 2024

Paris-based PASQAL, a developer of neutral atom-based quantum computers, yesterday issued a roadmap for delivering systems with 10,000 physical qubits in 2026 a Read more…

India Is an AI Powerhouse Waiting to Happen, but Challenges Await

March 12, 2024

The Indian government is pushing full speed ahead to make the country an attractive technology base, especially in the hot fields of AI and semiconductors, but Read more…

Charles Tahan Exits National Quantum Coordination Office

March 12, 2024

(March 1, 2024) My first official day at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) was June 15, 2020, during the depths of the COVID-19 loc Read more…

AI Bias In the Spotlight On International Women’s Day

March 11, 2024

What impact does AI bias have on women and girls? What can people do to increase female participation in the AI field? These are some of the questions the tech Read more…

Alibaba Shuts Down its Quantum Computing Effort

November 30, 2023

In case you missed it, China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba has shut down its quantum computing research effort. It’s not entirely clear what drove the change. Read more…

Nvidia H100: Are 550,000 GPUs Enough for This Year?

August 17, 2023

The GPU Squeeze continues to place a premium on Nvidia H100 GPUs. In a recent Financial Times article, Nvidia reports that it expects to ship 550,000 of its lat Read more…

Analyst Panel Says Take the Quantum Computing Plunge Now…

November 27, 2023

Should you start exploring quantum computing? Yes, said a panel of analysts convened at Tabor Communications HPC and AI on Wall Street conference earlier this y Read more…

DoD Takes a Long View of Quantum Computing

December 19, 2023

Given the large sums tied to expensive weapon systems – think $100-million-plus per F-35 fighter – it’s easy to forget the U.S. Department of Defense is a Read more…

Shutterstock 1285747942

AMD’s Horsepower-packed MI300X GPU Beats Nvidia’s Upcoming H200

December 7, 2023

AMD and Nvidia are locked in an AI performance battle – much like the gaming GPU performance clash the companies have waged for decades. AMD has claimed it Read more…

Synopsys Eats Ansys: Does HPC Get Indigestion?

February 8, 2024

Recently, it was announced that Synopsys is buying HPC tool developer Ansys. Started in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1970 as Swanson Analysis Systems, Inc. (SASI) by John Swanson (and eventually renamed), Ansys serves the CAE (Computer Aided Engineering)/multiphysics engineering simulation market. Read more…

Intel’s Server and PC Chip Development Will Blur After 2025

January 15, 2024

Intel's dealing with much more than chip rivals breathing down its neck; it is simultaneously integrating a bevy of new technologies such as chiplets, artificia Read more…

Baidu Exits Quantum, Closely Following Alibaba’s Earlier Move

January 5, 2024

Reuters reported this week that Baidu, China’s giant e-commerce and services provider, is exiting the quantum computing development arena. Reuters reported � Read more…

Leading Solution Providers

Contributors

Choosing the Right GPU for LLM Inference and Training

December 11, 2023

Accelerating the training and inference processes of deep learning models is crucial for unleashing their true potential and NVIDIA GPUs have emerged as a game- Read more…

Training of 1-Trillion Parameter Scientific AI Begins

November 13, 2023

A US national lab has started training a massive AI brain that could ultimately become the must-have computing resource for scientific researchers. Argonne N Read more…

Shutterstock 1179408610

Google Addresses the Mysteries of Its Hypercomputer 

December 28, 2023

When Google launched its Hypercomputer earlier this month (December 2023), the first reaction was, "Say what?" It turns out that the Hypercomputer is Google's t Read more…

Comparing NVIDIA A100 and NVIDIA L40S: Which GPU is Ideal for AI and Graphics-Intensive Workloads?

October 30, 2023

With long lead times for the NVIDIA H100 and A100 GPUs, many organizations are looking at the new NVIDIA L40S GPU, which it’s a new GPU optimized for AI and g Read more…

AMD MI3000A

How AMD May Get Across the CUDA Moat

October 5, 2023

When discussing GenAI, the term "GPU" almost always enters the conversation and the topic often moves toward performance and access. Interestingly, the word "GPU" is assumed to mean "Nvidia" products. (As an aside, the popular Nvidia hardware used in GenAI are not technically... Read more…

Shutterstock 1606064203

Meta’s Zuckerberg Puts Its AI Future in the Hands of 600,000 GPUs

January 25, 2024

In under two minutes, Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, laid out the company's AI plans, which included a plan to build an artificial intelligence system with the eq Read more…

Google Introduces ‘Hypercomputer’ to Its AI Infrastructure

December 11, 2023

Google ran out of monikers to describe its new AI system released on December 7. Supercomputer perhaps wasn't an apt description, so it settled on Hypercomputer Read more…

China Is All In on a RISC-V Future

January 8, 2024

The state of RISC-V in China was discussed in a recent report released by the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. The report, entitled "E Read more…

  • arrow
  • Click Here for More Headlines
  • arrow
HPCwire