After the recent exodus of high-level marketing executives from Intel Graphics, there have been some rumours swirling that the Xe GPU isn't going to have the impact that Intel originally hoped. Those rumours were not much more than speculation as far as I could see.
Now, a teasing Tweet from Raja Koduri, SVP&GM, chief architect, Architecture, Graphics, and Software at Intel Corporation, has changed the narrative again to one of optimism. Koduri has been in India this week to help launch a new 300,000 square foot design and engineering centre in Hyderabad. HPC Wire reports that the facility will "focus on advanced computing technologies for the AI and exascale era".
After the inauguration ceremony on Monday, Koduri told reporters that "Exascale for everyone… requires fundamental disruptions across the technology stack." Specifically, in relation to the opening of the new centre "Intel's design and engineering centres will play a critical role in driving this mission and I look forward to the new centre in Hyderabad delivering breakthrough technologies to propel the company's growth," said Koduri. Intel already opened up an AI- and 5G-focused design centre in Bangalore last month.
It’s all Xe HP - the team here in @intel Bangalore celebrated crossing a significant milestone on a journey to what would easily be the largest silicon designed in india and amongst the largest anywhere. The team calls it “the baap of all” @IntelIndia pic.twitter.com/scBrFFmhtl
— Raja Koduri (@Rajaontheedge) December 5, 2019
Back to Koduri's Tweet, shared yesterday and showing a big team assembled on the grounds of the Bangalore facility - it is quite a teaser. Koduri shared a couple of images of the Intel Bangalore team, and interestingly wrote:
It's all Xe HP - the team here in Intel Bangalore celebrated crossing a significant milestone on a journey to what would easily be the largest silicon designed in India and amongst the largest anywhere. The team calls it "the baap of all".
With the Xe HP, one must assume he is talking about the high performance data centre optimised version of the Xe GPU. Unfortunately he doesn't elaborate on what particular "significant milestone," has been crossed this week. Already, in October, we learned that the first DG1 Xe graphics card had successfully powered on, so it must be a milestone beyond this.
Perhaps most intriguing is that this "baap of all" - roughly translates as "father of all" - silicon is said to be the largest ever designed in India and amongst the largest anywhere.
According to the most recent statements from industry sources we expect the first Xe GPUs to be in products from late 2020, with the 7nm follow-up Ponte Vecchio GPUs in 2021.
