Intel Launches More Energy Efficient "Sierra Forest" Data Center Chip

Intel "Sierra Forest" will perform 240% better per watt than the current data center chip generation (photo: twitter @intel)

JAKARTA - On Monday, August 28, Intel announced that its new data center chips to be launched next year will handle more than double the amount of computation that can be performed for every watt of power used, as part of a wider industry effort to reduce consumption electricity.

At a semiconductor technology conference held at Stanford University in Silicon Valley, Intel revealed that its "Sierra Forest" chips will have 240% better performance per watt than the current generation of data center chips, the first time the company has disclosed such figures. This.

The data centers that power the internet and online services consume large amounts of electricity, and technology companies are facing increasing pressure to conserve or reduce the amount of energy they use. This is pushing chip companies to focus on how to do more computing work per chip.

Ampere Computing, a startup founded by a former Intel executive, is the first to launch a chip focused on efficiency in handling cloud computing jobs. Intel and its rival, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), have followed suit by announcing similar products, with an AMD product launching in June.

Intel, which has lost market share to AMD and Ampere in the data center, announced Monday that their "Sierra Forest" chips will launch next year.

The company is for the first time dividing its data center chips into two categories: "Granite Rapids" chips which will focus on performance but consume more power, and "Sierra Forest" chips which are more energy efficient.

Ronak Singhal, a senior fellow at Intel, said the company's customers can bundle older software onto fewer computers in data centers.

"I might have a device that's four or five, six years old. I can save power by offloading something that currently resides on five, 10, or 15 different servers onto a single" new chip, says Singhal. "This density reduces their total cost of ownership. The higher the density, the fewer systems they need"