Intel unveils next-generation AI chip

Intel, the American semiconductor company, has revealed its latest artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor chip Gaudi 3, marking a direct challenge to Nvidia, the current leader in the global AI semiconductor market. Competition is projected to escalate in this domain, with other key players such as AMD and Microsoft (MS) also actively introducing new semiconductor products tailored for AI.

In a new product launch event held in New York on Thursday (local time), Intel unveiled Gaudi 3, the latest semiconductor set to be released next year. This advanced chip is designed to execute generative AI tasks, including applications like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, boasting a processing speed that is four times faster than its predecessor.

On the same occasion, Intel also presented Core Ultra, a central processing unit (CPU) tailored for laptops and PCs, alongside Xeon, a server CPU. Notably, both products incorporate a neural network processing unit (NPU) capable of executing diverse AI systems. In particular, Core Ultra is installed in Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Book 4 released on that day.

Gaudi 3 is positioned as Intel’s response to NVIDIA’s flagship product H100. While Intel once held the title of the world’s leading semiconductor company, it has faced challenges in keeping pace with the swift expansion of the AI semiconductor market. In contrast, NVIDIA’s key products have become industry standards in this domain. Bloomberg News has also forecasted that Nvidia is “now on course to overtake Intel in total revenue this year for the first time.”


71wook@donga.com