In 2016, Intel acquired Nervana, hoping to accelerate the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning processors with this startup technology, thereby strengthening Intel's strength against rivals such as NVIDIA.
As for when Nervana can make a difference, Intel Chief Executive Brian Krzanich revealed at a recent earnings release that Lake Crest, Nervana's first product, is due to ship by the end of the year, but Krzanich said Lake Crest, which is to be released by the end of the year, Test the water temperature, "because people must first know how to use Nervana's technology, next year and second-generation and later chip revenue is expected to start growing, and considerable.
According to the website Motley Fool, this means that Nervana products will not immediately generate substantial revenue, as soon as possible by 2018. In fact, Nervana's chip is a completely new platform where potential customers need time to evaluate their capabilities, And to clarify whether their products really come in handy.
Regardless of when Nervana contributed to revenue, Intel at least seems to be moving in the right direction, at least not abandoning old ways of thinking and disassociating itself from its central processor (CPU). Intel, which previously defied special accelerator technology , Continually emphasizing the company's goal of enhancing the performance and functionality of its general-purpose processors, one day the value proposition of those accelerators disappears.
In fact, some of the more and more busy workloads benefit greatly from dedicated chip accelerations, and these chips can continue to improve as designs and processes improve. As a result, The market is usually in a backward situation.
For Intel, trying to identify these popular workloads and then designing proprietary technology is the right thing to do, and ASICs often require additional software ecosystems to maximize their potential, so Intel needs to think beyond hardware Make the Nervana platform easier to use and attract software developers to invest.
Intel also has a great deal of flexibility in how Nervana products are marketed. For example, the first generation of products is a stand-alone chip. In the future, Intel intends to package its processors and Nervana technology into a single chip. Through product integration, Intel CPU sales will not be affected Nervana chip crowding.
If Intel integrates the two technologies, because it is a model that rivals can not replicate, the average selling price (ASP) of Intel products in the data center market is expected to increase, ultimately driving revenue and profit growth.