For three days from September 12 (Israel time), Intel is holding the "Intel Technology Tour 2022" to introduce the latest efforts to the media while visiting the company's facilities in Israel.


In this article, we will report on the keynote speech that was held at the beginning of the tour.






Intel Technology Tour 2022 is the first event to showcase Intel's work in Israel to the 'world' media

History of "Intel x Israel" with a history of nearly half a century

Speaking of the relationship between Intel and Israel, if you are a PC maniac for 20 years, you may think of "Banias" (development code name: product name of CPU unit is "Pentium M") developed under the marketing brand "Centrino". unknown.

However, its history is older, and the "Intel 8088 processor" adopted by the first IBM PC that debuted in 1981 was developed in Haifa, Israel (the 8088 processor itself was released in 1979). In other words, if you trace the history of the R&D center, the relationship between Intel and Israel goes back 50 years.

Currently, the research and development (R&D) center "IDC (Israel Development Center)" has been established in Israel. This is not just Intel's research and development base, but also a large base with a semiconductor manufacturing factory, and plays an important role in the company's product lineup. IDC currently employs 14,000 people and plays a major role in Israel's own employment and industry.

In terms of personnel, not only Intel, but also famous multinational corporations (MNCs), including IBM and Microsoft in the past, have bases in Israel. There are various forms of expansion, such as "establishing new research and development bases" and "utilizing acquired local companies."

The expansion of IT MNCs into Israel became noticeable in the latter half of the 1990s, when support for start-up companies was substantial. This is largely due to the fact that the country is relatively new and has limited existing industries, and has focused on high-tech industries that can compete with technology.

This trend became noticeable around the late 1990s, when the government's start-up support began to be enhanced, and in fact, the expansion of IT MNCs into Israel has been conspicuous since around this time.



IDC is a major Intel base with a history of more than 50 years. It is also here that the 8088 processor, which was used in the first IBM PC, was born.


IDC has approximately 14,000 employees in total


Development of CPU for PC that accelerates from "MMX Pentium"

In 1979, the 8088 processor was developed at IDC. I thought that ``I will continue to develop CPUs more and more after this,'' but the next CPU for PC developed by IDC flew in 1993, ``Pentium Processor with MMX Technology'', the so-called ``MMX Pentium'' ”.

"MMX" stands for "Multi Media eXtension" and is a pioneer of the so-called "SIMD (Single Instruction, Multiple Data) technology" that processes multiple data with a single instruction. Multimedia processing requires high-speed processing of a large amount of data. The SIMD instruction set has become commonplace today, but at the time, I remember it being “shocking” that it was incorporated into the CPU itself.

After the MMX Pentium, the Banias that I mentioned at the beginning... but during this time, IDC was also developing a CPU called "Timna (development code name)". This Timna was trying to integrate not only the CPU but also the GPU and memory controller in one chip, mainly for the purpose of cost reduction. Some people may think, "Isn't that a matter of course?", But it was a very "ambitious" idea at the time when at least a two-chip configuration (CPU + chipset) was essential. However, adopting Direct RDRAM as a memory controller became an "adult", and it was "shelf" due to Intel's political judgment.

Like this Timna, there must have actually been many CPUs that disappeared before release. According to the Israeli team, the following products after Banias were all developed at IDC. It turns out that IDC is involved in most of the client CPUs in the last decade.

  • Yona: Core Duo/Solo processor
  • Merom/Penryn: Core 2 Duo/Quad processor
  • Sandy Bridge: 2nd Generation Core Processor
  • Ivy Bridge: 3rd Generation Core Processor
  • Sky Lake: 6th Generation Core Processor
  • Kaby Lake: 7th Generation Core Processors
  • Coffee Lake: 8th Generation Core Processors
  • Whiskey Lake/Amber Lake: 9th Generation Core Processor
  • Ice Lake/Comet Lake: 10th Generation Core Processors
  • Rocket Lake: 11th Generation Core Processors (For Desktop)
  • Alder Lake: 12th Generation Core Processors
  • Raptor Lake: 13th Generation Core Processors (coming soon)

                 The development of a semiconductor chip usually requires a lead time of about 3 to 5 years, and even if multiple projects are run simultaneously, the development resources will be enormous. Therefore, in order to achieve both efficiency and risk avoidance, Intel divided CPU development into two large teams, Hillsboro, Oregon, and IDC (Israel), and created a flow of alternating releases every year. .

However, according to IDC's explanation, most of the CPUs for clients after Skylake have been developed under the leadership of IDC.


A list of CPUs for clients that IDC was involved in developing. In particular, there are many people who have been indebted to products after Centrino (Banias)




Isik Shirasu (General Manager, Client Platform Program Office, Client Computing Division)explaining the history of CPUs at IDC


"Raptor Lake" with shorter development period

             The 13th generation Core processor (development code name: Raptor Lake), which is scheduled to be released within 2022, will continue to be developed by IDC following the 12th generation Core processor (development code name: Alder Lake). Meteor Lake is being developed by a team in Oregon.)

Raptor Lake is manufactured with the same "Intel 7 (improved 10nm process)" as Alder Lake, and has almost the same basic design. As a result, the time it took to release was shortened by about six months.

IDC also excels in the timing of product launches, and since 2015, most of the products have been within one month from the time they promised to ship at the time of release until the actual product is shipped. There are only 3 products for which the "window has been opened (≒ shipment was delayed)" for about 2 to 3 months, and there are no delays beyond that.

The lack of delays in the shipment schedule is a great advantage not only for Intel itself, but also for PC manufacturers and end users who purchase the company's CPUs. Regarding Raptor Lake, it is expected that mobile products will be released "almost as planned", starting with desktop products.


It is said that the period required from semiconductor development to manufacturing is 3 to 5 years, including process design. In the case of Alder Lake, it took more than 30 months to develop, except for the process design, but Raptor Lake was able to shorten the development period by about 6 months because it diverted the basic design of Alder Lake.


Looking at the gap between the promised shipment time of the CPU designed by IDC and the actual shipment time since 2015, there were three cases of quarterly (2-3 months) delays (Skylake for desktop, Ice Lake for mobile, Comet Lake for desktops) only, and everything else is within a month.

                

             As mentioned earlier, Rapor Lake uses the basic design of Alder Lake, and the manufacturing process remains Intel 7. Meteor Lake is manufactured with "Intel 4 (7nm process)", and after that, it is expected that the manufacturing process will be improved and renewed (miniaturization) alternately every year until 2025.

Considering that the 10-14nm process has been at a standstill, it seems that they are finally regaining their previous pace.



Finally, we are returning to the cycle of repeating "improvement" and "miniaturization" every other year


The keyword for Raptor Lake is "performance"

The key word for Raptor Lake is "performance." The maximum clock of the performance core (P core) reaches 6 GHz for the first time for the company's CPU, and it is said that the overall performance has been improved. Some say that the number of high-efficiency cores (E-cores) will be doubled at most, but if this is true, the CPU die area could be even larger than Alder Lake.

Intel 7 is a "monolithic die" and does not have a "multi-chiplet configuration" that has begun to be adopted as a technology to improve manufacturing efficiency. I think that the area expansion of the CPU die will bounce back to the cost as it is.

Attention will now be focused on what will happen to the specifications and sales price range of Raptor Lake, including the actual performance.