Today at the "AI Everywhere" event, Intel launched its 5th Gen Intel Xeon processors (code-named Emerald Rapids) that deliver increased performance per watt and lower total cost of ownership (TCO) across critical workloads for artificial intelligence, high performance computing (HPC), networking, storage, database and security. This launch marks the second Xeon family upgrade in less than a year, offering customers more compute and faster memory at the same power envelope as the previous generation. The processors are software- and platform-compatible with 4th Gen Intel Xeon processors, allowing customers to upgrade and maximize the longevity of infrastructure investments while reducing costs and carbon emissions.

"Designed for AI, our 5th Gen Intel Xeon processors provide greater performance to customers deploying AI capabilities across cloud, network and edge use cases. As a result of our long-standing work with customers, partners and the developer ecosystem, we're launching 5th Gen Intel Xeon on a proven foundation that will enable rapid adoption and scale at lower TCO." -Sandra Rivera, Intel executive vice president and general manager of Data Center and AI Group.With AI acceleration in every core, 5th Gen Xeon processors address demanding end-to-end AI workloads before customers need to add discrete accelerators—including up to 42% higher inference performance and less than 100 millisecond latency on large language models (LLMs) under 20 billion parameters.

Compared with the previous generation of Xeon, these processors deliver 21% average performance gain for general compute performance and enable 36% higher average performance per watt across a range of customer workloads. Customers following a typical five-year refresh cycle and upgrading from even older generations can reduce their TCO by up to 77%.

Building on previous generations, 5th Gen Xeon processors bring new innovations to deliver performance and efficiency benefits to customers. 5th Gen Xeon processors support up to 64 cores per CPU and nearly 3x the maximum last-level cache from the previous generation. They offer eight channels of DDR5 per CPU, support DDR5 at up to 5,600 megatransfers per second (MT/s), and increase inter-socket bandwidth with Intel UPI 2.0, offering up to 20 gigatransfers per second (GT/s). Select 5th Gen Xeon processor-based instances will support CXL Type 3 workflows through leading cloud service providers (CSPs).

5th Gen Xeon processors are pin-compatible with the previous generation, and top original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), including Cisco, Dell, HPE, IEIT Systems, Lenovo, Super Micro Computer and others, will offer a broad selection of single- and dual-socket systems beginning in the first quarter of 2024. Major CSPs will announce availability of 5th Gen Xeon processor-based instances throughout the year.

Intel Trust Domain Extensions (Intel TDX) offers increased confidentiality and security at the virtual machine (VM) level, enhancing privacy and control over data. Introduced earlier this year with the 4th Gen Xeon processors and available from select CSPs, with the launch of 5th Gen Xeon processors, Intel TDX will be generally available to all OEM and CSP solution providers. Within an Intel TDX confidential VM, guest operating systems and VM applications are isolated from access by the cloud host, hypervisor and other VMs on the platform.

Intel's new processors provide impressive performance increases and overall benefits for the company's customers and partners and enable the growth of optimized performance across key workloads.

With the launch of the 4th Gen Xeon processors in January 2023 and the launch of 5th Gen Xeon processors today, Intel continues to execute on its roadmap commitments to customers. Looking ahead, future Intel Xeon processors coming next year will deliver major advances in power efficiency and performance. Sierra Forest, with E-core efficiency and up to 288 cores, will arrive in the first half of 2024 and Granite Rapids, with P-core performance, will closely follow.