Intel Xeon Sierra Forest server processors get up to 144 E-cores
Intel’s forthcoming Sierra Forest CPUs for servers will ship with up to 144 efficient E-cores per processor. Intel reports this during an update of its data center roadmap. Sierra Forest will appear in the first half of next year.
Intel shared during his Data Center and AI webinar several updates to its server roadmap, which runs through 2025. Among other things, it confirms the core numbers of its upcoming Xeon Sierra Forest CPUs. The company announced those chips last year, but then shared few concrete details.
Sierra Forest CPUs consist entirely of efficiency-oriented E-cores. Intel supplies the chips with a maximum of 144 E-cores per processor. They will be the first Xeon server processors with such cores. Intel has been using E-cores in its consumer processors since Alder Lake, albeit backed by more powerful and traditional P-cores. E-cores are more economical and take up less space than those P-cores, but they are also less powerful and do not support hyperthreading.
Sierra Forest will appear in the first half of 2024. The company produces the chips on its Intel 3 node, which should be ready for volume production by the end of this year. Intel also says that Clearwater Forest, the second generation of Xeon CPUs with E-cores, will be released in 2025. Those processors are produced on the Intel 18A process, the most advanced node the company has on its technology roadmap. The company is not sharing any further details about Clearwater Forest.
Xeon CPUs with P-cores: Emerald Rapids and Granite Rapids
The company also continues to release Xeon processors with P-cores. This year, the company will introduce Emerald Rapids. Those CPUs serve as successors to the recently released Sapphire Rapids CPUs for servers. The company again produces these chips on its Intel 7 process, formerly known as Intel 10nm Enhanced Superfin. Intel has begun handing out the first Emerald Rapids samples to select customers. The official release should follow in the fourth quarter.
These CPUs are followed by Granite Rapids, which also use P-cores. Granite Rapids is produced on the Intel 3 process and has a higher core count than the Emerald Rapids and Sapphire Rapids CPUs. It is not known exactly how high that number of cores is. The chips also support up to DDR5-8800 speeds. These processors should be released shortly after Sierra Forest, in the first half of next year. Granite Rapids and Sierra Forest use the same socket.