Intel’s ongoing reorganization has a new victim: the AXG group – which was formed in 2021 – is now mincemeat after it was chopped up on Wednesday.
The consumer graphics portion of AXG (Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics Group) will fold into the client computing group, while the enterprise accelerated computing operations of AXG will move over the data center group.
As a result, Raja Koduri has stepped down as the leader of AXG. He will return to a more internal role as Chief Architect, which plays more to his strengths.
The AXG name is still being retained by Intel, though it will not exist as an independent operating unit. The new group is merging into the Datacenter and AI (DCAI) Group and will be under the interim leadership of Jeff McVeigh, who is vice president and general manager of the AXG’s Super Compute Group. McVeigh will hold the position, reporting to Data Center Group chief Sandra Rivera, while Intel seeks a permanent AXG lead.
There is no change in the company’s high-performance computing and supercomputing strategies, an Intel spokesperson told HPCwire.
The consumer graphics portion being merged into the client computing group will continue to be led by Lisa Pearce, a vice president at Intel.
“Discrete graphics and accelerated computing are critical growth engines for Intel. With our flagship products now in production, we are evolving our structure to accelerate and scale their impact and drive go-to-market strategies with a unified voice to customers,” Intel said in a statement.
AXG first appeared in Intel’s accounting books as an independent operating unit in the first quarter of 2022. But it hasn’t been a smooth ride for the group, with delayed products such as Ponte Vecchio, which is now called Data Center GPU Max Series, which will be used in the two-exaflops Aurora supercomputer (which has also been delayed).
There was already chatter on whether AXG would survive on CEO Pat Gelsinger’s chopping block. The viability of AXG was questioned by analyst Jon Peddie in a blog entry in July.
“Intel is now facing a much stronger AMD and Nvidia, plus six start-ups – the rules of engagement have dramatically changed while Intel sunk money into projects it can’t seem to get off the ground,” Peddie wrote.
Peddie was focusing more on the consumer GPUs, but the delays also hit enterprise GPUs. Intel executives celebrated the release of the Flex series GPUs for datacenters this year. The celebration was partially that of relief that the company was able to get an enterprise GPU accelerator off the ground.
Koduri is going back to what he does best, which is to work behind the scenes, be a visionary and define computing architectures. As a chief architect, he will continue to drive advanced chip designs, which are undergoing fundamental changes in the design and packaging of chips.
Intel’s new Xeon Max CPUs have advanced packaging technologies that integrate high-bandwidth memory alongside chips. The Ponte Vecchio chips are based on chiplets, in which tiles can be crammed into a small package so processors can conduct a diverse range of operations. Chiplets are also a more practical way to manufacture chips, which are becoming harder to shrink. Intel is opening its factory and chip designs to third-party customers.
Koduri has proven repeatedly his ability to conceptualize innovative chip designs, which will serve Intel well. Koduri is also good at the small things – for example, he played a role in bringing Java acceleration to GPUs.
But Koduri also had his failures. For example, some GPUs made by AMD, with Vega being one example, attracted heavy criticism. Koduri joined Intel in 2017, but the company’s Iris and Arc discrete GPUs – which started shipping this year – have not yet achieved success.
Koduri also led the creation of the Custom Compute Group, which designed chips to mine cryptocurrency, which is now in a freefall. The chips, called Bonanza Mine, could be on the chopping block as Gelsinger looks to curb spending.
Gelsinger has already discontinued the line of Optane storage products. The company is transitioning to a manufacturing-first organization and is looking to cut costs through layoffs and by discontinuing products.