Intel Corp. is rolling out a novel version of its artificial intelligence chip in a bid to challenge Nvidia Corp. in one of the fastest growing parts of the semiconductor industry.
The updated processor, called Gaudi 3, will be widely available in the third quarter, Intel said during a company event early Tuesday. The chip is designed to raise performance in two key areas: helping train artificial intelligence systems – the process of bombarding them with data – and running off-the-shelf software.
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Growing demand for AI services has forced tech companies to look to so-called accelerator chips, but Nvidia has seen most of the benefits. Earlier versions of Gaudí didn’t achieve the market share gains Intel had hoped for, CEO Pat Gelsinger said. He expects the novel model to have a greater impact.
Intel shares rose 1.4% to $38.50 at 11:58 a.m. in Modern York on Tuesday, reversing an earlier decline. This year through Monday’s close, they were down 24 percent.
Challenging Nvidia won’t be simple. The incredible success of the company’s H100 accelerator has helped it more than double its revenues and value the company at over $2 trillion. And now Nvidia is looking to leverage its advantage with a just-announced chip platform called Blackwell. Systems based on this product will be available later this year, the company said in March.
According to Intel’s assessment, Gaudi 3 will be faster and more energy competent than H100. The chipmaker says it will train certain types of AI models 1.7 times faster and run software 1.5 times better. Intel says the product will be roughly on par with the newer Nvidia H200 processor, performing slightly better in some areas and slightly worse in others.
Intel, based in Santa Clara, California, said it couldn’t make a comparison to Nvidia’s upcoming Blackwell line until those products are publicly available. Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. — its longtime competitor in the PC processor market — is also entering the market. In December, it unveiled a range of accelerators called MI300.
Intel’s Gelsinger said he’s not just trying to catch up with Nvidia. He expects artificial intelligence to bring greater benefits to the industry — especially as the technology spreads beyond its current concentration in the data centers of companies like Microsoft Corp. and Google owned by Alphabet Inc.
Personal computers, mobile phones and networking equipment will require chips that can handle artificial intelligence tasks and provide users with immediate feedback – something that is not always possible in remote server farms.
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When Intel announced its fourth-quarter earnings in delayed January, Gelsinger said it was increasing Gaudi’s supply to meet growing orders and that the company had “execution plans” for 2024 worth “over $2 billion and growing.” The broader market for enterprise spending on generative AI will grow from $40 billion in 2024 to $151 billion in 2027, Intel says, citing market research.
But this only highlights how much of an advantage Nvidia has. The company had more than $47 billion in data center revenue in the 12 months ended in January. Analysts estimate that this sum will exceed $95 billion in the current fiscal year.
Posted: Apr 9, 2024 10:08 pm EST