#Computex2024: AMD and Qualcomm ignite the AI revolution at Intel’s expense
AMD chairman and CEO, Dr Lisa Su, presented a comprehensive strategy to accelerate AI adoption across various sectors.
The company's expanded roadmap for AI accelerators, featuring the upcoming AMD Instinct MI325X with industry-leading memory capacity, showcased their commitment to delivering annual performance and memory leadership in generative AI.
The next-generation CDNA 4 architecture, expected in 2025, promises to redefine AI inference performance with the AMD Instinct MI350 Series, projected to deliver up to 35 times better performance compared to its predecessor.
AMD's vision: from data centre to PC
AMD also previewed the 5th Gen AMD EPYC server processors (codenamed "Turin"), slated for launch in the second half of 2024.
These processors are expected to build upon the EPYC family's legacy of leadership performance and efficiency that lit a rocket under the company’s share price in November 2021 when Meta and Microsoft took a truckload for their data centres.
"We are in the midst of a massive AI platform shift, with the promise to transform how we live and work,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella during the AMD keynote.
“That's why our deep partnership with AMD, which has spanned multiple computing platforms, from the PC to custom silicon for Xbox, and now to AI, is so important to us."
The introduction of the 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series processors and AMD Ryzen 9000 Series desktop processors marked a significant milestone for personal computing.
The new Zen 5 CPU core, designed for leadership performance and energy efficiency, powers both series.The AMD XDNA 2 NPU core architecture, delivering 50 TOPs of AI processing performance and up to double the power efficiency for generative AI workloads (the threshold for Microsoft Copilot+ PC branding is 45 TOPs.
This architecture supports advanced Block FP16 data type, enhancing accuracy without sacrificing performance.
Qualcomm vision: the PC reborn
Qualcomm's keynote focused on the transformative power of on-device AI. Much of the company’s Snapdragon X processor family details were already made public at Microsoft’s hardware launch in May.
Company president and CEO Cristiano Amon highlighted how AI is "fundamentally changing how we interact with PCs," emphasising the significance of the Snapdragon X Elite platform in accelerating new intelligent experiences.
Qualcomm's made a point of demonstrating how it is bringing the power of generative AI directly to personal devices, enabling enhanced productivity, creativity, and entertainment.
While the company is yet to allow reviewers to give feedback on direct comparisons between these new ARM windows laptops and the equivalent Macbooks, early impressions are largely positive.
.@Qualcomm showing off why it believes it has an all-day capable NPU. #Computex #SnapdragonXseries pic.twitter.com/gv6otqpgfi
— Anshel Sag (@anshelsag) June 3, 2024
However, recent releases from ARM point to a more competitive market when Windows on ARM matures to a second wave of devices.
“We are now delivering physical implementations across ARM’s CPU and GPU, making it easier to build and deploy ARM-based solutions and leaving nothing to chance,” said Chris Bergey, ARM’s SVP and GM of client when the company launched its Cortex-X925, which offers a significant increase in instructions per clock (IPC), the ability to operate at higher clock frequencies, and a larger L2 cache.
This CPU core is part of a broader blueprint package known as ARM Compute Subsystems (CSS) for Client, which also includes the latest Cortex-A cores – the A720 and A520 – and the Immortalis GPU—the G925.
Arm says that the CSS for Client will enable customers to construct high-end mobile silicon more quickly and conveniently – which will empower more of Qualcomm’s mobile SoC rivals like MediaTek to build competing hardware.
The simultaneous announcements by AMD and Qualcomm signal a new era of competition in the AI landscape.
While AMD is focusing on pervasive AI from the data centre to personal devices, Qualcomm is betting on the transformative power of on-device AI to redefine the PC experience.
Both companies are forging strategic partnerships and pushing the boundaries of technology to achieve their respective visions.
Intel rebuilding its future
All this is happening while Intel is not too quietly building out its chipmaking foundry capacity to safeguard its core business from supply chain shortages experienced in the wake of the pandemic.
The company has faced a 30% stock decline over the past three months due to market fluctuations, significant investments in these new ventures, and a loss of market share in CPUs as AMD has increased in popularity and Apple stopped shipping Intel-powered machines.
Intel's foundry model, however, positions the company to play a significant role in the AI industry even though its CPUs are out of favour.
CEO Pat Gelsinger envisions the first such operation in the US state of Ohio as "the AI systems fab for the nation," with Microsoft already onboard as a customer.
While Intel may have fallen slightly behind Nvidia and AMD in AI, its manufacturing capabilities could make it a crucial player in the long run.
Intel's pivot to manufacturing and AI represents a bold move aimed at securing its future in the evolving semiconductor landscape.
