The company is focusing on HPC and AI.
At the 2021 International Supercomputing Conference (ISC) Intel showcased how the company is expanding its high performance computing (HPC) offering. It is doing so through a range of technology disclosures, partnerships and customer adoptions.
Intel is announcing advances in its Intel Xeon processor for HPC and AI as well as innovations in memory, software, exascale-class storage, and networking technologies for a range of HPC use cases.
“To maximize HPC performance we must leverage all the computer resources and technology advancements available to us,” said Trish Damkroger, vice president and general manager of High Performance Computing at Intel. “Intel is the driving force behind the industry’s move toward exascale computing, and the advancements we’re delivering with our CPUs, XPUs, oneAPI Toolkits, exascale-class DAOS storage, and high-speed networking are pushing us closer toward that realization.”
Advancing HPC “Performance Leadership”
Earlier this year, Intel beefed up its market position in HPC with the launch of 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors. The latest processor delivers up to 53% higher performance across a range of HPC workloads, including life sciences, financial services and manufacturing, as compared to the previous generation processor.
Compared to its closest x86 competitor, the 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processor delivers better performance across a range of popular HPC workloads. For example, when comparing a Xeon Scalable 8358 processor to an AMD EPYC 7543 processor, NAMD performs 62% better, LAMMPS performs 57% better, RELION performs 68% better, and Binomial Options performs 37% better.
Integration of High Bandwidth Memory within Next-Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Processors
The next-generation of Intel Xeon Scalable processors (code-named “Sapphire Rapids) will offer integrated High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), providing a dramatic boost in memory bandwidth and a significant performance improvement for HPC applications that operate memory bandwidth-sensitive workloads. Users can power through workloads using just High Bandwidth Memory or in combination with DDR5.
The Sapphire Rapids-based platform will provide unique capabilities to accelerate HPC, including increased I/O bandwidth with PCI express 5.0 (compared to PCI express 4.0) and Compute Express Link (CXL) 1.1 support, enabling advanced use cases across compute, networking and storage.
HPC labs, supercomputing centers, universities and original equipment manufacturers who have adopted Intel’s latest compute platform include Dell Technologies, HPE, Korea Meteorological Administration, Lenovo, Max Planck Computing and Data Facility, Oracle, Osaka University and the University of Tokyo.