Wednesday, November 29th 2023
Ericsson First to Market with Processors Made on "Intel 4" Technology
Ericsson, a massive player in networking and cellular technology, has announced their new lineup of RAN Compute (Radio Access Network) processors as well as new high bandwidth routers built around in-house silicon designs fabbed on Intel 4, beating Intel's own Meteor Lake processors to market. These new processors are not something the average person is going to be using in their PCs or home routers, but they are pivotal in the reliability and speed of current and future generation 5G networking as the devices they power handle the ever increasing traffic and bandwidth demands of modern networks. In its press release Ericsson notes that the new RAN Processor 6672 and Radio Processor 6372 offer four times more capacity at twice the efficiency compared to their previous generation. They claim that the power draw of their new processors on Intel 4 is between 30% and 60% lower than the industry benchmarks.
Ericsson signed on as one of Intel's largest customers when Intel announced their "Intel Foundry Services" initiative under the IDM 2.0 strategy to offer chip designers the ability to fab their processors at Intel fabs. The strategy has - at least outwardly - appeared to be a boon to Intel as they've signed on large partnerships ranging from big budget defense contractors to datacenter clientele and even ARM. The new RAN Compute systems from Ericsson packed full of technology built on "Intel 4" even ahead of Intel's own designs exemplifies that Intel is at the very least committed to the strategy, and Ericsson has already announced plans for even more chips on Intel's "18A" process slated for 2025.
Sources:
Ericsson, Tom's Hardware
Ericsson signed on as one of Intel's largest customers when Intel announced their "Intel Foundry Services" initiative under the IDM 2.0 strategy to offer chip designers the ability to fab their processors at Intel fabs. The strategy has - at least outwardly - appeared to be a boon to Intel as they've signed on large partnerships ranging from big budget defense contractors to datacenter clientele and even ARM. The new RAN Compute systems from Ericsson packed full of technology built on "Intel 4" even ahead of Intel's own designs exemplifies that Intel is at the very least committed to the strategy, and Ericsson has already announced plans for even more chips on Intel's "18A" process slated for 2025.
24 Comments on Ericsson First to Market with Processors Made on "Intel 4" Technology
Intel 4 isn't offered through IFS.
We had cheap fanless 1GbE Intel NICs 20 years ago.
Maybe we'll get cheap and fanless 10GbE NICs and Switches, finally?
I had wondered if IFS could even produce enough chips to bring Meteor Lake to market by itself. That an IFS customer and Intel appear poised to launch Intel 4 products almost simultaneously does seem promising for Intel 4.
Progress speed, she ain't what she once was.
It's funny because In 2003 the largest SD cards were 512MB or at most 1GB for like $500. Twenty years later you can buy a 1TB Micro SD card for around $100.
Somehow consumer NAND grew 1000x but Networking speeds are affordably 2.5x faster than 2003. Also I guess most consumers don't need more than 1Gbit anyway so there's that angle to consider but still I wish 10GbE gear was ubiquitous at this point.