Intel today launched the Core i9-14900KS Special Edition desktop processor, which forms the company's new flagship product in the desktop segment. The Core i9-14900KS is based on the same "Raptor Lake Refresh" silicon as the i9-14900K, and offers an 8P+16E core configuration. What's new is that Intel has increased clock speeds for both the P-cores and E-cores. The P-cores now boost up to 6.20 GHz, a 200 MHz increase over those of the i9-14900K; while the E-cores boost up to 4.50 GHz, a 100 MHz increase. But these tiny speed bumps aren't what make the i9-14900KS special. It's the 320 W Extreme Power Delivery Profile, something the regular i9-14900K lacks. On select Intel Z790 and Z690 motherboards with two 8-pin EPS power connectors, the processor is able to draw large amounts of power to hold onto its high boost frequencies. Intel also made the i9-14900KS from the highest bins of the "Raptor Lake Refresh" silicon.

The Core i9-14900KS comes with a 3.20 GHz base frequency for the P-cores. Each of the 8 "Raptor Cove" P-cores comes with 2 MB of dedicated L2 cache. The 16 "Gracemont" E-cores are arranged in four E-core clusters. Each cluster shares a 4 MB L2 cache among its four cores. The 8 P-cores and 4 E-core clusters share a 36 MB L3 cache. The processor comes with a base power value of 150 W—25 W higher than the 125 W of the i9-14900K. Its maximum turbo power is still 253 W, and is engaged on platforms capable of Intel Performance Power Delivery Profile. It's only with some of the more premium motherboards that the 320 W Extreme Power Delivery Profile is engaged. The Core i9-14900KS is a Special Edition SKU, meaning that it may not be available in all the markets where the i9-14900K sells. Intel is pricing this chip at $690, a $100 premium over the i9-14900K, though interestingly, $50 cheaper than what its predecessor, the i9-13900KS, launched at.

Be sure to check out the TechPowerUp Review of the Core i9-14900KS.The launch press-deck by Intel, along with its first-party performance claims, follows.

ASUS today announced BIOS updates that enable support for up to 256 GB of memory on its Intel 700 and 600 series motherboards that use DDR5 modules. Such models with four DIMM slots can now support up to 256 GB of memory, while such models with two DIMM slots can now support up to 128 GB. These enhancements significantly improve multitasking potential, ensuring smooth and seamless computing. AMD AM5 motherboards from ASUS do not require a BIOS update to enable support for up to 256 GB of DDR5 memory modules.

The BIOS updates can be accessed on the ASUS support pages for the models listed below.

MeLE, designers of mini PCs, and industrial PCs, unveiled the Fanless Stick PC PCG02 Pro. Measuring 146 mm x 61 mm x 20 mm (LxWxH), this thing is about the size of two smartphones duct-taped together, but weighing as much as one (since there's no battery inside). Under the hood is an Intel N100 "Alder Lake-N" processor, which features one "Gracemont" E-core cluster for a 4-core/4-thread CPU, and an Intel Xe LP-based iGPU with 24 execution units. The N100 in the MeLE PCG02 Pro is wired to 8 GB or 16 GB of LPDDR4X-4266 memory. Storage is in the form of 128 GB or 256 GB of eMMC. The device comes with Windows 11 Home single language pre-installed.

The Fanless Stick PC PCG02 Pro comes with an impressive set of connectivity for its size. Networking options include Wi-Fi 5 ac + Bluetooth 5.1, and a 1 GbE wired Ethernet. Display outputs include two HDMI 2.1, which can power a pair of 4K Ultra HD displays at 60 Hz, each. USB connectivity includes two USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) type-A ports; and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) type-C. There is a second type-C port used for power input through any USB PD 3.0 source that can deliver 25 W. A power adapter is included. Depending on the memory- and storage size opted for, the Fanless Stick PC PCG02 Pro is priced between USD $270 to $290. It can power a range of applications between home-entertainment (it's completely fanless), through digital signage, or even most office applications.

Intel Corporation today announced that Stacy Smith, executive chairman of Kioxia Corporation, formerly Toshiba Memory Corporation, and chair of Autodesk Inc., was appointed to Intel's board of directors, effective immediately. Smith will serve as an independent director and join the board's Audit & Finance Committee.
"Stacy's deep understanding of the semiconductor industry, along with Intel's history and strategy, will be a significant asset to the board as it guides the company's transformation journey," said Frank D. Yeary, chairman of the Intel board. "In particular, Stacy's expertise in finance and leading capital allocation strategies in the capital-intensive semiconductor industry will be additive to Intel's board as the company continues its efforts to create a globally resilient semiconductor supply chain."

Smith, 61, spent nearly 30 years at Intel, serving in a variety of leadership roles. Prior to his retirement in 2018, he served as the group president of manufacturing, operations and sales, leading the company's global Technology and Manufacturing Group and its worldwide sales organization. Prior to this, he spent more than a decade in finance leadership roles, including as chief financial officer. In addition, Smith held the role of chief information officer and, before that, was general manager of Intel Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), where he was responsible for Intel sales and marketing for the EMEA region.

The sub-$400 desktop processor segment is heating up, with the recent arrival of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D 12-core/24-thread processor in this segment, at $389. The 7900X3D boasts of 3D V-cache technology, and is tested to offer gaming performance comparable to the Core i9-13900K. Did you know which other chip offered the same performance as the i9-13900K at a much lower price? The Core i7-14700K. Pricing of this chip is on a downward trend, and Newegg is selling it for $389. The chip is listed for $399, with a coupon shaving off $10. At $389, the i7-14700K should offer comparable gaming performance to the i9-13900K, and by extension, the 7900X3D.

The Core i7-14700K "Raptor Lake Refresh" processor features an interesting 8P+12E core-configuration, with 8 "Raptor Cove" performance cores, and 12 "Gracemont" efficiency cores. Each P-core has 2 MB of dedicated L2 cache, each of the three E-core clusters shares a 4 MB L2 cache among its four cores; while the eight P-cores and three E-core clusters share a 33 MB L3 cache. The i7-14700K is compatible with all Intel 600-series and 700-series chipset motherboards, with some of them requring a UEFI firmware update. An interesting point to note here, is that while the i7-14700K is selling at $389, its sibling without the iGPU, the i7-14700KF, remains at $399.

A 2019-signed export license has allowed Intel to supply laptop processors to Huawei, under an exclusive deal—this US Government approved arrangement was not viewed favorably by AMD. The rival chipmaker apparently missed out on the securing of a similar trade license back in 2021. According to a new Reuters report, Team Red and a handful of supporters have attempted to revoke Intel's license—worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Two anonymous sources allege that: "Intel has survived an effort to halt chip sales to Huawei...giving one of the world's largest chipmakers more time to sell to the heavily sanctioned Chinese telecoms company." Intel and Huawei's symbiosis is set to end later this year—folks on the inside reckon that the current US administration will not approve a renewal. Reports suggest that Qualcomm is not anticipating a renewal either—Huawei is an approved buyer of Snapdragon chips, but industry whispers indicate an eventual shift to in-house fare.

Intel, Huawei, US Commerce Department and the White House have declined to comment on the aforementioned scenario. Reuters also sent a query to AMD, but the publication did not receive a response. Earlier last year, a government official revealed that "Huawei's licensing policy" was under review, alongside a general push to scrap a number of trade deals. According to insiders, the same government official allegedly told companies—in private—that the US Commerce Department would fix "the licensing discrepancy." Another anonymous source believes that the agency shelved these plans late last year, for reasons unknown—they stressed that there is potential for a revival. Given the upcoming expiry of Intel and Huawei's arrangement—within the year—it makes little sense to implement a drastic change.

ASUS IoT, a global leader in AIoT solutions, today announced the release of MDS-M700—an all-new medical box PC expertly engineered to deliver exemplary performance and service in diverse healthcare settings. As display and video capture technologies advance to ultra-high definition (UHD) resolutions, MDS-M700 is at the forefront, boasting support for 4K UHD imaging that offers unparalleled clarity and precision in visualizing human tissue, vessels and body structures. MDS-M700 meets medical safety industry standards, including CE, FCC, and IEC 60601-1-2 certifications.

With the growing demand for digital operating rooms and intelligent healthcare, MDS-M700 is engineered to be a trustworthy medical box PC. With an ultra-low noise level of 45 dB and a seamless one-piece cover, MDS-M700 helps to maintain a hygienic environment with resistance to alcohol, making it ideal for sterile settings such as surgery centers, operating rooms and training facilities. Powered by Intel Core (13th gen) processors, and optional NVIDIA RTX A5000/A4000 GPU cards, MDS-M700 delivers exceptional computing performance while operating quietly across a spectrum of applications.

The latest TrendForce report reveals a notable 7.9% jump in 4Q23 revenue for the world's top ten semiconductor foundries, reaching $30.49 billion. This growth is primarily driven by sustained demand for smartphone components, such as mid and low-end smartphone APs and peripheral PMICs. The launch season for Apple's latest devices also significantly contributed, fueling shipments for the A17 chipset and associated peripheral ICs, including OLED DDIs, CIS, and PMICs. TSMC's premium 3 nm process notably enhanced its revenue contribution, pushing its global market share past the 60% threshold this quarter.

TrendForce remarks that 2023 was a challenging year for foundries, marked by high inventory levels across the supply chain, a weak global economy, and a slow recovery in the Chinese market. These factors led to a downward cycle in the industry, with the top ten foundries experiencing a 13.6% annual drop as revenue reached just $111.54 billion. Nevertheless, 2024 promises a brighter outlook, with AI-driven demand expected to boost annual revenue by 12% to $125.24 billion. TSMC, benefiting from steady advanced process orders, is poised to far exceed the industry average in growth.

Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite is about to make landfall in the ultraportable notebook segment, powering a new wave of Windows 11 devices powered by Arm, capable of running even legacy Windows applications. The Snapdragon X Elite SoC in particular has been designed to rival the Apple M3 chip powering the 2024 MacBook Air, and some of the "entry-level" variants of the 2023 MacBook Pros. These chips threaten the 15 W U-segment and even 28 W P-segment of x86-64 processors from Intel, such as the Core Ultra "Meteor Lake," and Ryzen 8040 "Hawk Point." Erdi Özüağ, prominent tech journalist from Türkiye, has access to a Qualcomm-reference notebook powered by the Snapdragon X Elite X1E80100 28 W SoC. He compared its performance to an off-the-shelf notebook powered by a 28 W Intel Core Ultra 7 155H "Meteor Lake" processor.

There are three tests that highlight the performance of the key components of the SoCs—CPU, iGPU, and NPU. A Microsoft Visual Studio code compile test sees the Snapdragon X Elite with its 12-core Oryon CPU finish the test in 37 seconds; compared to 54 seconds by the Core Ultra 7 155H with its 6P+8E+2LP CPU. In the 3DMark test, the Adreno 750 iGPU posts identical performance numbers to the Arc Graphics Xe-LPG of the 155H. Where the Snapdragon X Elite dominates the Intel chip is AI inferencing. The UL Procyon test sees the 45 TOPS NPU of the Snapdragon X Elite score 1720 points compared to 476 points by the 10 TOPS AI Boost NPU of the Core Ultra. The Intel machine is using OpenVINO, while the Snapdragon is using Qualcomm SNPE SDK for the test. Don't forget to check out the video review by Erdi Özüağ in the source link below.

ECS Industrial Computer Co., Ltd., also known as ECSIPC, proudly unveils its latest generation of mini PCs for quad-display industrial applications, the LIVA Z5 series, which includes the LIVA Z5 Plus, LIVA Z5E Plus, and LIVA Z5F Plus. Committed to providing industry-specific value solutions, ECSIPC focuses on developing niche products and solutions for vertical industry applications. ECSIPC has achieved success in various application areas, including educational electronic whiteboards in Europe and the US, airport real-time flight systems in India, image projection for Japan's Shinkansen bullet trains, and electronic menu and POS systems for KFC in South America, while also exploring applications in vending machines and digital signage.

The newly launched LIVA Z5 series is powered by Intel 13th and 14th generation Core processors, delivering significant performance improvements with up to 10 cores capable of efficiently handling various demanding tasks. The series has Wi-Fi 6E speeds up to 9.6 Gbps for enhanced data transmission efficiency, allowing seamless playback of high-quality audiovisual content. Additionally, the multi-storage design accommodates PCIe Gen 4 M.2 NVMe SSDs and a 2.5-inch SSD or HDD, offering greater storage flexibility. The series ensures high-speed data processing in industrial environments with two 2.5G Base-T (2.5G) ports. At the same time, support for vPro and physical TPM significantly enhances the value of industrial applications.

Intel is revamping its foundry play, and the company is set on its goals of becoming a strong contender to rivals such as TSMC and Samsung. Under Pat Gelsinger's lead, Intel recently split (virtually, under the same company) its units into Intel Product and Intel Foundry. During the SPIE 2024 conference for optics and photonics, Anne Kelleher, Intel's senior vice president, revealed that the 14A (1.4 nm) process offers a 15% performance-per-watt improvement over the company's 18A (1.8 nanometers) process. Additionally, the enhanced 14A-E process boasts a further 5% performance boost from the regular A14 node, being a small refresh. Intel's 14A process is set to be the first to utilize High-NA extreme ultraviolet (EUV) equipment, delivering a 20% increase in transistor logic density compared to the 18A node.

The company's aggressive pursuit of next-generation processes poses a significant threat to Samsung Electronics, which currently holds the second position in the foundry market. As part of its IDM 2.0 strategy, Intel hopes to reclaim its position as a leading foundry player and surpass Samsung by 2030. The company's collaboration with American companies, such as Microsoft, further solidifies its ambitions. Intel has already secured a $15 billion chip production contract with Microsoft for its 1.8 nm 18A process. The semiconductor industry is closely monitoring Intel's progress, as the company's advancements in process technology could potentially reshape the competitive landscape. With Samsung planning to mass-produce 2 nm process products next year, the race for dominance in the foundry market is heating up.

Intel today announced the release of Continuous Profiler to open source -- serving as an example of the company's open ecosystem approach to catalyze innovation and boost productivity for developers. The optimization agent is actively used by companies including ironSource, ShareChat and Snap Inc. to identify production bottlenecks and optimization opportunities. Developed by Intel Granulate and contributed to the open source community, Continuous Profiler is a solution that combines multiple profilers into one view as a flame graph. This unified view offers developers, performance engineers and DevOps a continuous and autonomous way to identify runtime inefficiencies.

"Continuous Profiler has been at the heart of what we've been doing at Intel Granulate. By helping developers identify bottlenecks in the code, businesses can optimize their applications more easily and effectively," said Asaf Ezra, general manager of Intel Granulate. Determining why central processing units (CPUs) are busy is a routine task for performance analysis in any testing and production environment. Continuous Profiler delivers a flame graph of the hottest code paths. "This visualized view makes it immediately obvious where CPU is consumed so you can find cost savings, eliminate bottlenecks, improve throughput, and reduce latency and performance regressions," said Brendan Gregg, Intel Fellow. "In today's complex environment, however, flame graphs can unearth so many performance wins that it becomes laborious to apply them all. Intel Granulate automates this task, allowing companies to realize these performance wins now and in the future as Intel develops more optimizations."

Pricing of Intel's upcoming enthusiast-segment desktop processor, the Core i9-14900KS, has been confirmed to be $749, according to a MicroCenter listing. This price is identical to what the company asked for the previous generation i9-13900KS and i9-12900KS. As a Special Edition SKU, the i9-14900KS may not be available in all markets you'd normally find the i9-14900K in, also the chip is expected to have higher cooling- and power requirements. Based on the "Raptor Lake Refresh" silicon, this 8P+16E core processor is expected to come with maximum boost frequencies of 6.20 GHz, and generally better overclocking headroom than the regular i9-14900K. The Core i9-14900KS is expected to go on sale this Thursday, March 14, 2024. Whether it beats the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D at gaming is the $749 question we'll answer soon.

There is some confidence behind removing HTT (Hyper-Threading technology) for the P-cores of its upcoming processor generations. Apparently "Lunar Lake" 17 W U-segment processors offer a substantial multithreaded performance gain of almost 50% over the current-generation "Meteor Lake," enabling Intel to do away with the power- or cache overheads that come with HTT. "Lunar Lake" will be Intel's third microarchitecture powering mobile processors under the Core Ultra brand; and its U-segment SKUs meant for ultraportables will come with processor base power values of 17 W. Intel will probably revise its platform specifications for the U-segment to denote 17 W, up from the current 15 W. Bionic Squash, a reliable source with Intel leaks, suggests so. The processors will come with a configurable base power of up to 30 W.

Intel "Lunar Lake" microarchitecture has a lot in common with the upcoming "Arrow Lake." For starters, both microarchitectures use the same combination of "Lion Cove" P-core architecture, and "Skymont" E-core architecture; however "Lunar Lake" comes with changes in the core-configuration, and the use of more advanced foundry nodes for some of its tiles. "Lunar Lake," much like "Meteor Lake," comes with a design priority for mobile platforms, which is why Intel is planning to launch this shortly after "Arrow Lake," with some reports even speaking of a late-2024 debut for the U-segment.

As of two days ago, the NVX System Integrators store (via Carousell Singapore) has allowed customers to pre-order the oft-leaked Intel Core i9-14900KS CPU—a S$1059 (~$794 USD) spend secures a "BX8071514900KS" Special Edition retail package for in-store pick only. Another pre-release discovery arrives courtesy of the ever vigilant tech watcher; momomo_us—SE Computer, a store located in the bustling streets of Kowloon, Hong Kong, has listed the incoming flagship Raptor Lake Refresh part with a price of HK$5500 (~$709.70 USD). An accompanying image appears to be a placeholder, since warehouse leaks have displayed "Special Edition" text on Intel's signature blue retail boxes.

Privileged members of the overclocking community are already playing around with Intel's selectively-binned 14th Gen Core processor—but mere mortals will have to wait patiently for an official retail rollout. VideoCardz has spent part of their weekend doing detective work—several early store listings point to a possible March 14 commencement. The graphics card news specialist has scoured online entities across Asia, France and Canada for price comparison purposes: "it appears that the KS 'Special Edition' variant is set to cost 19 to 30% more than the K variant. Pricing varies depending on the size of the retailer, where the offer was placed, and the region it is being sold." They thoroughly recommend that potential customers avoid pre-ordering the Intel Core i9-14900KS—asking prices could stabilize post-launch, and e-tailers rarely sell through the first batch of niche "KS" CPUs.

The US government is reported to be preparing a very healthy $3.5 billion investment in Intel Corporation—a mid-week published Bloomberg article proposes that the White House has authored a new "fast-moving spending bill." Congressional aides believe that Team Blue—upon official approval/signing off of funds—will be tasked with the production of advanced semiconductors for military and intelligence programs. Bloomberg posits that the resources will be sourced from a "Secure Enclave" project, seemingly linking to a wider tranche of funds within the US government's CHIPS and Science Act. The agreement/contract is expected to run over a period of three years. According to Bloomberg: "the Senate is expected to pass the legislation by a Saturday (March 9) deadline."

Reports from last November suggested that Intel leadership and US government representatives had engaged in negotiations regarding funds for military and intelligence chip applications—the construction costs for new manufacturing facilities were estimated to be in the $3 billion to $4 billion range. A Commerce Department statement was submitted to Bloomberg, but they only commented on an overall $10 billion budget: "We are still reviewing the effect of the appropriations text on the program...(we look) forward to continuing to work with Congress on implementing the Chips and Science Act in a manner the promotes our economic and national security." TSMC, Micron and Samsung are expected to receive "multi-billion-dollar awards" in the near future—these multinational corporations will assist in a bolstering of North American chip manufacturing capabilities.

HP Inc. today announced the industry's largest portfolio of AI PCs leveraging the power of AI to enhance productivity, creativity, and user experiences in hybrid work settings.

In an ever-changing hybrid work landscape, workers are still struggling with disconnection and digital fatigue. HP's 2023 Work Relationship Index reveals that only 27% of knowledge workers have a healthy relationship with work, and 83% believe it's time to redefine our relationships with work. Most employees believe AI will open new opportunities to enjoy work and make their jobs easier, but they need the right AI tools and technology to succeed.

IBM has announced the official opening of the new IBM X-Force Cyber Range in Washington, DC. The range includes new custom training exercises specifically designed to help U.S. federal agencies, their suppliers and critical infrastructure organizations more effectively respond to persistent and disruptive cyberattacks, and threats posed by AI. The state-of-the-art facility is designed to help everyone from legal and mission-critical leaders, to the C-Suite and technical security leaders prepare for a real-world cyber incident. According to IBM's 2023 Cost of a Data Breach report the global average cost of a data breach reached $4.45 million, with the US facing the highest breach costs across all regions. Organizations that formed an incident response (IR) team and tested their IR plan experienced faster incident response times and lower costs than organizations that did neither. In fact, the report found that high levels of IR planning and testing saved industry and government nearly $1.5 million in breach costs and 54 days from the data breach lifecycle.

"From national security threats to supply chain disruptions impacting the goods and services we rely on every day, cyberattacks on government and critical infrastructure can have ramifications that go far beyond the balance sheet," said Alice Fakir, Partner, Lead of Cybersecurity Services, US Federal Market for IBM Consulting. "The elite and highly customizable cyber response training we provide at our new DC range helps organizations and federal agencies better defend against existing and emerging threats, and also addresses federal mandates like those in the Biden Administration's Executive Order 14028 focused on improving the nation's cybersecurity."

Intel may be launching its enthusiast-segment desktop processor, the Core i9-14900KS Special Edition next week, but the chip is already in the hands of several elite overclockers, such as Pakhtunov from OCN. Once he got his hands on one of these, Pakhtunov wasted little time in de-lidding the chip, cleaning it up, grabbing some pics, before throwing it back in the arena for some before-and-after comparisons.

With its stock integrated heatspreader (IHS) in place, a Cinebench 2024 load sees a boost frequency on the P-cores of 5.90 GHz, in which the processor draws a staggering 376 W (as reported by the motherboard's ACPI to software); and a temperature of 85°C, when cooled with a Deepcool LS720 SE 360 mm AIO CLC. With the IHS removed, and at the same 5.90 GHz clocks and Cinebench 2024 load, sees the temperatures drop to 75°C, and power-draw to 366 W. The story repeats with the more brutal Y-cruncher stress test. The original chip with the IHS in place, and a 5.90 GHz boost on the P-cores, pulls a staggering 432 W, and 89°C temperatures. Remove the IHS, and the temperature drops to 82°C, with 409 W package power. It's worth noting here, that with the IHS removed, Pakhtunov used a liquid-metal TIM application between the die and the cold-plate.

TAITRA (Taiwan External Trade Development Council) has announced Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel Corporation, as a keynote speaker at COMPUTEX 2024 on June 4. Embracing COMPUTEX's theme of artificial intelligence (AI), Gelsinger will showcase Intel's next-generation data center and client computing products bringing AI Everywhere by making the technology accessible through exceptionally engineered platforms, secure solutions and open ecosystems support.

Gelsinger will detail how Intel's AI portfolio - including AI-accelerated Intel Xeon, Intel Gaudi and Intel Core Ultra processor families - unlocks new possibilities in the data center and cloud and across the world's network and edge applications, and how it ushers in the age of the AI PC, transforming the future of productivity and creativity. Gelsinger will also discuss how Intel Xeon processors deliver exceptional performance-per-watt efficiencies, freeing up server capacity for more AI tasks while delivering optimal total cost of ownership (TCO) and power-saving sustainability benefits.

Intel is rumored to be preparing to tease its Core Ultra 2-series "Arrow Lake" processor at the 2024 Computex, which gets underway this June. The series itself isn't expected to launch before Q4-2024, but Computex is the only major global event between June and January for Intel to unveil or tease its next-generation processor, so here we are. At this point we don't know which exact platform of "Arrow Lake" Intel is planning to tease—whether these are the mobile variants, or the Socket LGA1851 desktop "Arrow Lake-S." An unveiling of the latter would almost definitely entail PC motherboard vendors being allowed to show off their first compatible motherboards at Computex—the perfect platform for them to do so.

The Core Ultra "Arrow Lake" retains a Foveros Tiled (chiplet) construction of "Meteor Lake," but with advancements to the chip's Compute tile, which is built on the Intel 20A foundry node, and rocks new "Lion Cove" P-cores and "Skymont" E-cores; an updated I/O tile, and an iGPU based on the updated Xe-LPG+ graphics architecture. Since the processor now serves practically all PCH functions, the mobile "Arrow Lake" is a single-chip solution, whereas the desktop "Arrow Lake-S" is expected to remain 2-chip. There will be more I/O from the CPU, though, which is why the socket has 151 more pins than the LGA1700.

Intel's "AI Everywhere" hype campaign has generated the most noise in mainstream and enterprise segments. Team Blue's Gaudi—a family of deep learning accelerators—does not hit the headlines all that often. Their current generation model, Gaudi 2, is overshadowed by Team Green and Red alternatives—according to Intel's official marketing spiel: "it performs competitively on deep learning training and inference, with up to 2.4x faster performance than NVIDIA A100." Habana, an Intel subsidiary, has been working on optimizing Large Language Model (LLM) inference on Gaudi 1 and 2 for a while—their co-operation with Hugging Face has produced impressive results, as of late February. Siddhant Jagtap, an Intel Data Scientist, has demonstrated: "how easy it is to generate text with the Llama 2 family of models (7b, 13b and 70b) using Optimum Habana and a custom pipeline class."

Jagtap reckons that folks will be able to: "run the models with just a few lines of code" on Gaudi 2 accelerators—additionally, Intel's hardware is capable of accepting single and multiple prompts. The custom pipeline class: "has been designed to offer great flexibility and ease of use. Moreover, it provides a high level of abstraction and performs end-to-end text-generation which involves pre-processing and post-processing." His article/blog outlines various prerequisites and methods of getting Llama 2 text generation up and running on Gaudi 2. Jagtap concluded that Habana/Intel has: "presented a custom text-generation pipeline on Intel Gaudi 2 AI accelerator that accepts single or multiple prompts as input. This pipeline offers great flexibility in terms of model size as well as parameters affecting text-generation quality. Furthermore, it is also very easy to use and to plug into your scripts, and is compatible with LangChain." Hugging Face reckons that Gaudi 2 delivers roughly twice the throughput speed of NVIDIA A100 80 GB in both training and inference scenarios. Intel has teased third generation Gaudi accelerators—industry watchdogs believe that next-gen solutions are designed to compete with Team Green H100 AI GPUs.

Intel is reportedly launching its new enthusiast-segment desktop processor, the Core i9-14900KS, on March 14, 2024. The i9-14900KS is marked by Intel as a Special Edition product, meaning that it may not be available in all the markets that you'd otherwise find the regular i9-14900K in; and the processor has higher system- and cooling requirements to achieve its advertised performance levels. Given that Intel priced the previous generation i9-13900KS and i9-12900KS at $740, we don't expect pricing of the i9-14900KS to be any different.

The i9-14900KS is based on the same "Raptor Lake Refresh" silicon as the i9-14900K, but from better bins. It should come with higher overclocking headroom, and better performance out of the box. This is because Intel has dialed up the maximum boost frequencies by 100-200 MHz on both the P-cores and E-cores. The P-cores now boost up to 6.20 GHz using the Thermal Velocity Boost algorithm, whereas the i9-14900K boosts up to 6.00 GHz. With its launch just over a week away, retail boxes of the i9-14900KS are already beginning to leak from sources among brick-and-mortar retailers. Once such source in Vietnam grabbed these snaps of the processor box.

NVIDIA's Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) has long been the de facto standard programming interface for developing GPU-accelerated software. Over the years, NVIDIA has built an entire ecosystem around CUDA, cementing its position as the leading GPU computing and AI manufacturer. However, rivals AMD and Intel have been trying to make inroads with their own open API offerings—ROCm from AMD and oneAPI from Intel. The idea was that developers could more easily run existing CUDA code on non-NVIDIA GPUs by providing open access through translation layers. Developers had created projects like ZLUDA to translate CUDA to ROCm, and Intel's CUDA to SYCL aimed to do the same for oneAPI. However, with the release of CUDA 11.5, NVIDIA appears to have cracked down on these translation efforts by modifying its terms of use, according to developer Longhorn on X.

"You may not reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble any portion of the output generated using Software elements for the purpose of translating such output artifacts to target a non-NVIDIA platform," says the CUDA 11.5 terms of service document. The changes don't seem to be technical in nature but rather licensing restrictions. The impact remains to be seen, depending on how much code still requires translation versus running natively on each vendor's API. While CUDA gave NVIDIA a unique selling point, its supremacy has diminished as more libraries work across hardware. Still, the move could slow the adoption of AMD and Intel offerings by making it harder for developers to port existing CUDA applications. As GPU-accelerated computing grows in fields like AI, the battle for developer mindshare between NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel is heating up.

Simply NUC, Inc, a leading custom computing company, proudly announced the expansion of the Onyx product line with Onyx Pro, a revolutionary Mini Workstation designed to cater to diverse computing needs. Powered by the Intel Core i9 vPro "Raptor Lake" 13900H CPU, Intel IRIS Xe integrated graphics, and featuring optional graphics cards such as NVIDIA T1000, Radeon Pro WX 3200, and Intel Arc A40, the Onyx Pro redefines computing in a compact form factor.

"Introducing the Onyx Pro marks a pivotal moment for Simply NUC." said Jonny Smith, CEO of Simply NUC "Powered by Intel Core i9 vPro "Raptor Lake", it's our first product with 10G fiber (x2) and standard quad network ports. With unmatched performance, AI-readiness, and advanced networking, Onyx Pro sets a new standard for compact workstations."