Thursday, May 28th 2020
Intel Scores Another AMD Graphics Higher-up: Ali Ibrahim
To support its efforts to build a competitive consumer GPU lineup under the Xe brand, which Intel likes to call its "Odyssey," the company scored another higher-up from AMD, this time Ali Ibrahim. He joined Intel this month as a vice-president within the Architecture, Graphics and Software group, although the company didn't specify his responsibilities. "We are thrilled that Ali has joined Intel as Vice President, Platform Architecture and Engineering - dGPUs to be part of the exciting Intel Xe graphics journey," said an Intel spokesperson in a comment to CRN.
During his 13-year tenure at AMD, Ali Ibrahim was the chief-architect of the company's cloud gaming and console SoC businesses, which provides valuable insight into Intel's breakneck efforts to build high-end discrete GPUs (something it lacked for the past two decades). Intel is the only other company that is capable of building semi-custom chips for someone like Microsoft or Sony as the inventor of x86, provided it has a GPU that can match AMD's in the console space. Likewise, with gaming taking baby steps to the cloud as big players such as Google betting on it, Intel sees an opportunity for cloud gaming GPUs that aren't too different from its "Ponte Vecchio" scalar processors. The transfer of talent isn't one-way, as AMD recently bagged Intel's server processor lead Dan McNamara to head the EPYC brand.
Source:
CRN
During his 13-year tenure at AMD, Ali Ibrahim was the chief-architect of the company's cloud gaming and console SoC businesses, which provides valuable insight into Intel's breakneck efforts to build high-end discrete GPUs (something it lacked for the past two decades). Intel is the only other company that is capable of building semi-custom chips for someone like Microsoft or Sony as the inventor of x86, provided it has a GPU that can match AMD's in the console space. Likewise, with gaming taking baby steps to the cloud as big players such as Google betting on it, Intel sees an opportunity for cloud gaming GPUs that aren't too different from its "Ponte Vecchio" scalar processors. The transfer of talent isn't one-way, as AMD recently bagged Intel's server processor lead Dan McNamara to head the EPYC brand.
12 Comments on Intel Scores Another AMD Graphics Higher-up: Ali Ibrahim
As for Cloud gaming - that can go away. That isn't a feature I feel is necessary or really wanted.
The same reason "Games as a service" gets pushed hard. It puts all the cards in the publisher's/developer's hands.
- No piracy, since the consumer only gets access to remote hardware/software via a client, nothing is owned by the consumer or resides really on the consumer's end.
- Planned obsolescence, publisher's/developer's are in full control of how long a service exists.
- No longer any "life support" for old software by modders or open-source projects, since there is no access to the software or an old codebase to go on.
- A constant and predictable flow of income, since the consumer needs to continuously pay in a subscription model for access (and in some cases for certain software/features on top of that as well!).
- Less cost/time for development, since the one hardware combo it is gonna deploy on is known from the start.
Once again, Intel needs to invest into the dissection of the problem as to why avx512 causes such a deep vdroop event and curtail some stopgaps as to how they can ramp up its utility in gpus.
Place some super conductors here and there, maybe through 3d vias for optimal packaging. Be more particular in your research goals. Now, future gpus are in your responsibility.
Very happy that Raja Embarassment Koduri is no longer at AMD.
Architect something something cloud... I don't recall AMD doing that well in that space, so, uh, oh, hopefully new guy or gal does better.
Intel had nothing IMO at the time that was suitable.