Intel Targets AI With Next-Gen CPUs

Meteor Lake has dedicated neural processors for machine learning

Ben Wodecki, Jr. Editor

July 31, 2023

3 Min Read
Credit: Intel

At a Glance

  • Intel's Meteor Lake chips are its first PC processors with dedicated neural processors for machine learning.
  • The chips will arrive in PCs by the end of 2023.

Intel is bringing AI to consumer PCs by the end of the year through its new Meteor Lake chips.

The company revealed during its second-quarter earnings call that its AI-powered PC chips would be arriving in the third quarter.

What is Meteor Lake?

Meteor Lake is the codename for Intel's next-generation processors for consumer desktop PCs. The release would mark the company’s 14th generation of CPUs, replacing the 13th Gen Raptor Lake series.

Meteor Lake is a chiplet SoC design, meaning it’s small and designed to be combined with other chiplets – think of it as like several cogs working together to power a clock.

It marks Intel’s first dedicated AI engine integrated directly into an SoC, with the company's Q2 earnings presentation billing Meteor Lake as “bringing AI to the PC at scale.”

The world got a glimpse at Meteor Lake at Microsoft Build 2023. The pair announced a “multiyear” collaboration to “drive the development of AI on personal computing.”

According to leaks posted to social media, Meteor Lake will support the rumored to be upcoming Windows 12, though neither support nor the actual operating system is confirmed.

No solid specs were published, but what is known is that Meteor Lake is being built using Intel 4, which sees the company move to a 7nm process. A paper outlining Intel 4 states that the new process reduces design complications compared to the previously used Intel 7, which confusingly used a 10nm process.

Related:Intel Unveils New Xeon Chips to Power AI Workloads

The other certainty is that its focus is on AI, in that it has a built-in neural processor for machine learning tasks.

Intel’s AI CPU move would move it alongside rivals AMD, with its Ryzen AI engine and Apple’s new M2 Ultra.

Intel sets its sights on AI

The Meteor Lake release confirmation was a small mark among the wider focus of Intel looking at AI. The company is “well-positioned to capitalize” on AI, according to CEO Pat Gelsinger.

Gelsinger said Intel will look to champion "an open ecosystem and silicon solutions that optimize performance, cost and security to democratize AI from cloud to enterprise, edge and client.”

Prior to the Q2 call, Intel consolidated its Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics Group into its Client Computing Group and Data Center and AI Group. The change was intended to “drive a more effective go-to-market capability and to accelerate the scale of these businesses, while also reducing costs.”

Among its other AI efforts, Intel is working with HPE, Argonne National Laboratory and others to develop generative AI models for scientific research. The chipmaker is also expanding its production efforts, unveiling plans for a new manufacturing facility in Germany’s ‘Silicon Junction.’

Related:Apple WWDC 2023: AR Headset, New Chips, AI Autocorrect

Away from consumer-focused chips, Intel unveiled its next-gen Xeon scalable processors in January, designed to power AI and edge applications and supercomputers.

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ChatGPT / Generative AI

About the Author

Ben Wodecki

Jr. Editor

Ben Wodecki is the Jr. Editor of AI Business, covering a wide range of AI content. Ben joined the team in March 2021 as assistant editor and was promoted to Jr. Editor. He has written for The New Statesman, Intellectual Property Magazine, and The Telegraph India, among others. He holds an MSc in Digital Journalism from Middlesex University.

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