Upcoming AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 Processor Leaked By ASUS?
In what appears to be a mistake or a jump of the gun by ASUS, they have seemingly published a list of specifications for one of its key notebooks that all but allude to the next generation of AMD's mobile processors. While we saw AMD toy with a new nomenclature for their Phoenix silicon (Ryzen 7040 series), it seems as though AMD is once again changing things around where their naming scheme for processors is concerned.
The ASUS listing, which has now since been deleted, but as of writing is still available through Google's cache, highlights a model that is already in existence, the VivoBook S 16 OLED (M5606), but is listed with an unknown AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 processor. Which, based on its specificiations, is certainly not part of the current Hawk Point (Phoenix/Phoenix 2) platform.
The cache on Google shows the ASUS Vivobook S 16 OLED with a Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 Processor
While it does happen in this industry occasionally, what looks like an accidental leak by ASUS on one of their product pages has unearthed an unknown processor from AMD. This first came to our attention via a post on Twitter by user @harukaze5719. While we don't speculate on rumors, we confirmed this ourselves by digging through Google's cache. Sure enough, as the image above from Google highlights, it lists a newly unannounced model of Ryzen mobile processor. Under the listing via the product compare section for the ASUS Vivobook S 16 OLED (M5606) notebook, it is listed with the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 170, which appears to be one of AMD's upcoming Zen 5-based mobile chips codenamed Strix Point.
So with the seemingly new nomenclature that AMD has gone with, it has a clear focus on AI, or rather Ryzen AI, by including it in the name. The Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 looks set to be a 12C/24T Zen 5 mobile variant, with their Ryzen AI NPU or similar integrated within the chip. Given that Microsoft has defined that only processors with an NPU with 45 TOPS of performance or over constitute being considered an 'AI PC', it's likely the Xilinx (now AMD Xilinx) based NPU will meet these requirements as the listing states the chip has up to 77 TOPS of AI performance available. The HX series is strikingly similar to AMD's (and Intel's) previous HX naming series for their desktop replacement SKUs for laptops, so assuming any of the details of ASUS's error are correct, then this is presumably a very high-end, high-TDP part.
AMD Laptop Roadmap from Zen 2 in 2019 to Zen 5 on track for release in 2024
We've known for some time that AMD plans to release AMD's Zen 5-based Strix Point line-up sometime in 2024. Given the timing of Computex 2024, which is just over four weeks away, we still don't quite have the full picture of Zen 5's performance and its architectural shift over Zen 4. AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su also confirmed that Zen 5 will come with enhanced RDNA graphics within the Strix Point SoC by stating "Strix combines our next-gen Zen 5 core with enhanced RDNA graphics and an updated Ryzen AI engine to significantly increase the performance, energy efficiency, and AI capabilities of PCs,"
While it's entirely possible as we lead up to Computex 2024 that AMD is prepared to announce more details about Zen 5, nothing is confirmed. We do know that the CEO of AMD, Dr. Lisa Su is scheduled to deliver the opening keynote of the show, Dr. Lisa Su unveiled their Zen 4 microarchitecture at Computex 2022 during AMD's keynote and even unveiled their 3D V-Cache stacking, which we know today as the Ryzen X3D CPUs back at Computex 2021.
With that in mind, AMD and Dr. Lisa Su love to announce new products and ... CPUs
Posted by The Techinical Support
Silicon Motion Demonstrates Flexible Data Placement on MonTitan Gen 5 Enterprise SSD Platform
At FMS 2024, the technological requirements from the storage and memory subsystem took center stage. Both SSD and controller vendors had various demonstrations touting their suitability for different stages of the AI data pipeline - ingestion, preparation, training, checkpointing, and inference. Vendors like Solidigm have different types of SSDs optimized for different stages of the pipeline. At the same time, controller vendors have taken advantage of one of the features introduced recently in the NVM Express standard - Flexible Data Placement (FDP).
FDP involves the host providing information / hints about the areas where the controller could place the incoming write data in order to reduce the write amplification. These hints are generated based on specific block sizes advertised by the device. The feature is completely backwards-compatible, with non-FDP hosts working just as before with FDP-enabled SSDs, and vice-versa.
Silicon Motion's MonTitan Gen 5 Enterprise SSD Platform was announced back in 2022. Since then, Silicon Motion has been touting the flexibility of the platform, allowing its customers to incorporate their own features as part of the customization process. This approach is common in the enterprise space, as we have seen with Marvell's Bravera SC5 SSD controller in the DapuStor SSDs and Microchip's Flashtec controllers in the Longsys FORESEE enterprise SSDs.
At FMS 2024, the company was demonstrating the advantages of flexible data placement by allowing a single QLC SSD based on their MonTitan platform to take part in different stages of the AI data pipeline while maintaining the required quality of service (minimum bandwidth) for each process. The company even has a trademarked name (PerformaShape) for the firmware feature in the controller that allows the isolation of different concurrent SSD accesses (from different stages in the AI data pipeline) to guarantee this QoS. Silicon Motion claims that this scheme will enable its customers to get the maximum write performance possible from QLC SSDs without negatively impacting the performance of other types of accesses.
Silicon Motion and Phison have market leadership in the client SSD controller market with similar approaches. However, their enterprise SSD controller marketing couldn't be more different. While Phison has gone in for a turnkey solution with their Gen 5 SSD platform (to the extent of not adopting the white label route for this generation, and instead opting to get the SSDs qualified with different cloud service providers themselves), Silicon Motion is opting for a different approach. The flexibility and customization possibilities can make platforms like the MonTitan appeal to flash array vendors.
Storage
Intel Sells Its Arm Shares, Reduces Stakes in Other Companies
Intel has divested its entire stake in Arm Holdings during the second quarter, raising approximately $147 million. Alongside this, Intel sold its stake in cybersecurity firm ZeroFox and reduced its holdings in Astera Labs, all as part of a broader effort to manage costs and recover cash amid significant financial challenges.
The sale of Intel's 1.18 million shares in Arm Holdings, as reported in a recent SEC filing, comes at a time when the company is struggling with substantial financial losses. Despite the $147 million generated from the sale, Intel reported a $120 million net loss on its equity investments for the quarter, which is a part of a larger $1.6 billion loss that Intel faced during this period.
In addition to selling its stake in Arm, Intel also exited its investment in ZeroFox and reduced its involvement with Astera Labs, a company known for developing connectivity platforms for enterprise hardware. These moves are in line with Intel's strategy to reduce costs and stabilize its financial position as it faces ongoing market challenges.
Despite the divestment, Intel's past investment in Arm was likely driven by strategic considerations. Arm Holdings is a significant force in the semiconductor industry, with its designs powering most mobile devices, and, for obvious reasons, Intel would like to address these. Intel and Arm are also collaborating on datacenter platforms tailored for Intel's 18A process technology. Additionally, Arm might view Intel as a potential licensee for its technologies and a valuable partner for other companies that license Arm's designs.
Intel's investment in Astera Labs was also a strategic one as the company probably wanted to secure steady supply of smart retimers, smart cable modems, and CXL memory controller, which are used in volumes in datacenters and Intel is certainly interested in selling as many datacenter CPUs as possible.
Intel's financial struggles were highlighted earlier this month when the company released a disappointing earnings report, which led to a 33% drop in its stock value, erasing billions of dollars of capitalization. To counter these difficulties, Intel announced plans to cut 15,000 jobs and implement other expense reductions. The company has also suspended its dividend, signaling the depth of its efforts to conserve cash and focus on recovery. When it comes to divestment of Arm stock, the need for immediate financial stabilization has presumably taken precedence, leading to the decision.
CPUs
Intel Sells Its Arm Shares, Reduces Stakes in Other Companies
Intel has divested its entire stake in Arm Holdings during the second quarter, raising approximately $147 million. Alongside this, Intel sold its stake in cybersecurity firm ZeroFox and reduced its holdings in Astera Labs, all as part of a broader effort to manage costs and recover cash amid significant financial challenges.
The sale of Intel's 1.18 million shares in Arm Holdings, as reported in a recent SEC filing, comes at a time when the company is struggling with substantial financial losses. Despite the $147 million generated from the sale, Intel reported a $120 million net loss on its equity investments for the quarter, which is a part of a larger $1.6 billion loss that Intel faced during this period.
In addition to selling its stake in Arm, Intel also exited its investment in ZeroFox and reduced its involvement with Astera Labs, a company known for developing connectivity platforms for enterprise hardware. These moves are in line with Intel's strategy to reduce costs and stabilize its financial position as it faces ongoing market challenges.
Despite the divestment, Intel's past investment in Arm was likely driven by strategic considerations. Arm Holdings is a significant force in the semiconductor industry, with its designs powering most mobile devices, and, for obvious reasons, Intel would like to address these. Intel and Arm are also collaborating on datacenter platforms tailored for Intel's 18A process technology. Additionally, Arm might view Intel as a potential licensee for its technologies and a valuable partner for other companies that license Arm's designs.
Intel's investment in Astera Labs was also a strategic one as the company probably wanted to secure steady supply of smart retimers, smart cable modems, and CXL memory controller, which are used in volumes in datacenters and Intel is certainly interested in selling as many datacenter CPUs as possible.
Intel's financial struggles were highlighted earlier this month when the company released a disappointing earnings report, which led to a 33% drop in its stock value, erasing billions of dollars of capitalization. To counter these difficulties, Intel announced plans to cut 15,000 jobs and implement other expense reductions. The company has also suspended its dividend, signaling the depth of its efforts to conserve cash and focus on recovery. When it comes to divestment of Arm stock, the need for immediate financial stabilization has presumably taken precedence, leading to the decision.
CPUs
Silicon Motion Demonstrates Flexible Data Placement on MonTitan Gen 5 Enterprise SSD Platform
At FMS 2024, the technological requirements from the storage and memory subsystem took center stage. Both SSD and controller vendors had various demonstrations touting their suitability for different stages of the AI data pipeline - ingestion, preparation, training, checkpointing, and inference. Vendors like Solidigm have different types of SSDs optimized for different stages of the pipeline. At the same time, controller vendors have taken advantage of one of the features introduced recently in the NVM Express standard - Flexible Data Placement (FDP).
FDP involves the host providing information / hints about the areas where the controller could place the incoming write data in order to reduce the write amplification. These hints are generated based on specific block sizes advertised by the device. The feature is completely backwards-compatible, with non-FDP hosts working just as before with FDP-enabled SSDs, and vice-versa.
Silicon Motion's MonTitan Gen 5 Enterprise SSD Platform was announced back in 2022. Since then, Silicon Motion has been touting the flexibility of the platform, allowing its customers to incorporate their own features as part of the customization process. This approach is common in the enterprise space, as we have seen with Marvell's Bravera SC5 SSD controller in the DapuStor SSDs and Microchip's Flashtec controllers in the Longsys FORESEE enterprise SSDs.
At FMS 2024, the company was demonstrating the advantages of flexible data placement by allowing a single QLC SSD based on their MonTitan platform to take part in different stages of the AI data pipeline while maintaining the required quality of service (minimum bandwidth) for each process. The company even has a trademarked name (PerformaShape) for the firmware feature in the controller that allows the isolation of different concurrent SSD accesses (from different stages in the AI data pipeline) to guarantee this QoS. Silicon Motion claims that this scheme will enable its customers to get the maximum write performance possible from QLC SSDs without negatively impacting the performance of other types of accesses.
Silicon Motion and Phison have market leadership in the client SSD controller market with similar approaches. However, their enterprise SSD controller marketing couldn't be more different. While Phison has gone in for a turnkey solution with their Gen 5 SSD platform (to the extent of not adopting the white label route for this generation, and instead opting to get the SSDs qualified with different cloud service providers themselves), Silicon Motion is opting for a different approach. The flexibility and customization possibilities can make platforms like the MonTitan appeal to flash array vendors.
Storage
Intel Sells Its Arm Shares, Reduces Stakes in Other Companies
Intel has divested its entire stake in Arm Holdings during the second quarter, raising approximately $147 million. Alongside this, Intel sold its stake in cybersecurity firm ZeroFox and reduced its holdings in Astera Labs, all as part of a broader effort to manage costs and recover cash amid significant financial challenges.
The sale of Intel's 1.18 million shares in Arm Holdings, as reported in a recent SEC filing, comes at a time when the company is struggling with substantial financial losses. Despite the $147 million generated from the sale, Intel reported a $120 million net loss on its equity investments for the quarter, which is a part of a larger $1.6 billion loss that Intel faced during this period.
In addition to selling its stake in Arm, Intel also exited its investment in ZeroFox and reduced its involvement with Astera Labs, a company known for developing connectivity platforms for enterprise hardware. These moves are in line with Intel's strategy to reduce costs and stabilize its financial position as it faces ongoing market challenges.
Despite the divestment, Intel's past investment in Arm was likely driven by strategic considerations. Arm Holdings is a significant force in the semiconductor industry, with its designs powering most mobile devices, and, for obvious reasons, Intel would like to address these. Intel and Arm are also collaborating on datacenter platforms tailored for Intel's 18A process technology. Additionally, Arm might view Intel as a potential licensee for its technologies and a valuable partner for other companies that license Arm's designs.
Intel's investment in Astera Labs was also a strategic one as the company probably wanted to secure steady supply of smart retimers, smart cable modems, and CXL memory controller, which are used in volumes in datacenters and Intel is certainly interested in selling as many datacenter CPUs as possible.
Intel's financial struggles were highlighted earlier this month when the company released a disappointing earnings report, which led to a 33% drop in its stock value, erasing billions of dollars of capitalization. To counter these difficulties, Intel announced plans to cut 15,000 jobs and implement other expense reductions. The company has also suspended its dividend, signaling the depth of its efforts to conserve cash and focus on recovery. When it comes to divestment of Arm stock, the need for immediate financial stabilization has presumably taken precedence, leading to the decision.
CPUs
Intel Sells Its Arm Shares, Reduces Stakes in Other Companies
Intel has divested its entire stake in Arm Holdings during the second quarter, raising approximately $147 million. Alongside this, Intel sold its stake in cybersecurity firm ZeroFox and reduced its holdings in Astera Labs, all as part of a broader effort to manage costs and recover cash amid significant financial challenges.
The sale of Intel's 1.18 million shares in Arm Holdings, as reported in a recent SEC filing, comes at a time when the company is struggling with substantial financial losses. Despite the $147 million generated from the sale, Intel reported a $120 million net loss on its equity investments for the quarter, which is a part of a larger $1.6 billion loss that Intel faced during this period.
In addition to selling its stake in Arm, Intel also exited its investment in ZeroFox and reduced its involvement with Astera Labs, a company known for developing connectivity platforms for enterprise hardware. These moves are in line with Intel's strategy to reduce costs and stabilize its financial position as it faces ongoing market challenges.
Despite the divestment, Intel's past investment in Arm was likely driven by strategic considerations. Arm Holdings is a significant force in the semiconductor industry, with its designs powering most mobile devices, and, for obvious reasons, Intel would like to address these. Intel and Arm are also collaborating on datacenter platforms tailored for Intel's 18A process technology. Additionally, Arm might view Intel as a potential licensee for its technologies and a valuable partner for other companies that license Arm's designs.
Intel's investment in Astera Labs was also a strategic one as the company probably wanted to secure steady supply of smart retimers, smart cable modems, and CXL memory controller, which are used in volumes in datacenters and Intel is certainly interested in selling as many datacenter CPUs as possible.
Intel's financial struggles were highlighted earlier this month when the company released a disappointing earnings report, which led to a 33% drop in its stock value, erasing billions of dollars of capitalization. To counter these difficulties, Intel announced plans to cut 15,000 jobs and implement other expense reductions. The company has also suspended its dividend, signaling the depth of its efforts to conserve cash and focus on recovery. When it comes to divestment of Arm stock, the need for immediate financial stabilization has presumably taken precedence, leading to the decision.
CPUs
End of the Road: An AnandTech Farewell It is with great sadness that I find myself penning the hardest news post I’ve ever needed to write here at AnandTech. After over 27 years of covering the wide – and wild – world of computing hardware, today is AnandTech’s final day of publication.
For better or worse, we’ve reached the end of a long journey – one that started with a review of an AMD processor, and has ended with the review of an AMD processor. It’s fittingly poetic, but it is also a testament to the fact that we’ve spent the last 27 years doing what we love, covering the chips that are the lifeblood of the computing industry.
A lot of things have changed in the last quarter-century – in 1997 NVIDIA had yet to even coin the term “GPU” – and we’ve been fortunate to watch the world of hardware continue to evolve over the time period. We’ve gone from boxy desktop computers and laptops that today we’d charitably classify as portable desktops, to pocket computers where even the cheapest budget device puts the fastest PC of 1997 to shame.
The years have also brought some monumental changes to the world of publishing. AnandTech was hardly the first hardware enthusiast website, nor will we be the last. But we were fortunate to thrive in the past couple of decades, when so many of our peers did not, thanks to a combination of hard work, strategic investments in people and products, even more hard work, and the support of our many friends, colleagues, and readers.
Still, few things last forever, and the market for written tech journalism is not what it once was – nor will it ever be again. So, the time has come for AnandTech to wrap up its work, and let the next generation of tech journalists take their place within the zeitgeist.
It has been my immense privilege to write for AnandTech for the past 19 years – and to manage it as its editor-in-chief for the past decade. And while I carry more than a bit of remorse in being AnandTech’s final boss, I can at least take pride in everything we’ve accomplished over the years, whether it’s lauding some legendary products, writing technology primers that still remain relevant today, or watching new stars rise in expected places. There is still more that I had wanted AnandTech to do, but after 21,500 articles, this was a good start.
And while the AnandTech staff is riding off into the sunset, I am happy to report that the site itself won’t be going anywhere for a while. Our publisher, Future PLC, will be keeping the AnandTech website and its many articles live indefinitely. So that all of the content we’ve created over the years remains accessible and citable. Even without new articles to add to the collection, I expect that many of the things we’ve written over the past couple of decades will remain relevant for years to come – and remain accessible just as long.
The AnandTech Forums will also continue to be operated by Future’s community team and our dedicated troop of moderators. With forum threads going back to 1999 (and some active members just as long), the forums have a history almost as long and as storied as AnandTech itself (wounded monitor children, anyone?). So even when AnandTech is no longer publishing articles, we’ll still have a place for everyone to talk about the latest in technology – and have those discussions last longer than 48 hours.
Finally, for everyone who still needs their technical writing fix, our formidable opposition of the last 27 years and fellow Future brand, Tom’s Hardware, is continuing to cover the world of technology. There are a couple of familiar AnandTech faces already over there providing their accumulated expertise, and the site will continue doing its best to provide a written take on technology news.
So Many Thank Yous
As I look back on everything AnandTech has accomplished over the past 27 years, there are more than a few people, groups, and companies that I would like to thank on behalf of both myself and AnandTech as a whole.
First and foremost, I cannot thank enough all the editors who have worked for AnandTech over the years. T... Site Updates
![Rapidus Wants to Offer Fully Automated Packaging for 2nm Fab to Cut Chip Lead Times <p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21525/rapidus-2nm-fully-automated-chip-packaging-to-cut-lead-times"><img src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21525/intel-foundry-wafer-semiconductor-fab-ifs-678_575px.jpg" alt="" /></a></p><p><p>One of the core challenges that Rapidus will face when it kicks off volume production of chips on its 2nm-class process technology in 2027 is lining up customers. With Intel, Samsung, and TSMC all slated to offer their own 2nm-class nodes by that time, Rapidus will need some kind of advantage to attract customers away from its more established rivals. To that end, the company thinks they've found their edge: fully automated packaging that will allow for shorter chip lead times than manned packaging operations.</p>
<p>In an interview with <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/Interview/Japan-s-Rapidus-to-fully-automate-2-nm-chip-fab-president-says">Nikkei</a>, Rapidus' president, Atsuyoshi Koike, outlined the company's vision to use advanced packaging as a competitive edge for the new fab. <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21411/rapidus-adds-chip-packaging-services-to-plans-for-32b-2nm-fab">The Hokkaido facility</a>, which is currently under construction and is expecting to begin equipment installation this December, is already slated to both produce chips and offer advanced packaging services within the same facility, an industry first. But ultimately, Rapidus biggest plan to differentiate itself is by automating the back-end fab processes (chip packaging) to provide significantly faster turnaround times.</p>
<p>Rapidus is targetting back-end production in particular as, compared to front-end (lithography) production, back-end production still heavily relies on human labor. No other advanced packaging fab has fully automated the process thus far, which provides for a degree of flexibility, but slows throughput. But with automation in place to handle this aspect of chip production, Rapidus would be able to increase chip packaging efficiency and speed, which is crucial as chip assembly tasks become more complex. Rapidus is also collaborating with multiple Japanese suppliers to source materials for back-end production. </p>
<p>"In the past, Japanese chipmakers tried to keep their technology development exclusively in-house, which pushed up development costs and made them less competitive," Koike told Nikkei. "[Rapidus plans to] open up technology that should be standardized, bringing down costs, while handling important technology in-house." </p>
<p>Financially, Rapidus faces a significant challenge, needing a total of ¥5 trillion ($35 billion) by the time mass production starts in 2027. The company estimates that ¥2 trillion will be required by 2025 for prototype production. While the Japanese government has provided ¥920 billion in aid, Rapidus still needs to secure substantial funding from private investors.</p>
<p>Due to its lack of track record and experience of chip production as. well as limited visibility for success, Rapidus is finding it difficult to attract private financing. The company is in discussions with the government to make it easier to raise capital, including potential loan guarantees, and is hopeful that new legislation will assist in this effort.</p>
</p> Semiconductors](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tIhVPGhOq5jO4DgmOUz7etA31DT80mhgbUq3qsWnwW-pMdZPrT5wqjd73H0CziA-QJjGWDyLh5HnyCewTfLLLmFUTdTPJY62NnlXrpPN4r1gB6K7EiylhFKFyINas3OTVT8fpnyafka8eh3WaUeb7GQfKz4ak8akOaXupRC6e9q5FI=w72-h72-p-k-no-nu)
Rapidus Wants to Offer Fully Automated Packaging for 2nm Fab to Cut Chip Lead Times
One of the core challenges that Rapidus will face when it kicks off volume production of chips on its 2nm-class process technology in 2027 is lining up customers. With Intel, Samsung, and TSMC all slated to offer their own 2nm-class nodes by that time, Rapidus will need some kind of advantage to attract customers away from its more established rivals. To that end, the company thinks they've found their edge: fully automated packaging that will allow for shorter chip lead times than manned packaging operations.
In an interview with Nikkei, Rapidus' president, Atsuyoshi Koike, outlined the company's vision to use advanced packaging as a competitive edge for the new fab. The Hokkaido facility, which is currently under construction and is expecting to begin equipment installation this December, is already slated to both produce chips and offer advanced packaging services within the same facility, an industry first. But ultimately, Rapidus biggest plan to differentiate itself is by automating the back-end fab processes (chip packaging) to provide significantly faster turnaround times.
Rapidus is targetting back-end production in particular as, compared to front-end (lithography) production, back-end production still heavily relies on human labor. No other advanced packaging fab has fully automated the process thus far, which provides for a degree of flexibility, but slows throughput. But with automation in place to handle this aspect of chip production, Rapidus would be able to increase chip packaging efficiency and speed, which is crucial as chip assembly tasks become more complex. Rapidus is also collaborating with multiple Japanese suppliers to source materials for back-end production.
"In the past, Japanese chipmakers tried to keep their technology development exclusively in-house, which pushed up development costs and made them less competitive," Koike told Nikkei. "[Rapidus plans to] open up technology that should be standardized, bringing down costs, while handling important technology in-house."
Financially, Rapidus faces a significant challenge, needing a total of ¥5 trillion ($35 billion) by the time mass production starts in 2027. The company estimates that ¥2 trillion will be required by 2025 for prototype production. While the Japanese government has provided ¥920 billion in aid, Rapidus still needs to secure substantial funding from private investors.
Due to its lack of track record and experience of chip production as. well as limited visibility for success, Rapidus is finding it difficult to attract private financing. The company is in discussions with the government to make it easier to raise capital, including potential loan guarantees, and is hopeful that new legislation will assist in this effort.
Semiconductors
Microchip Demonstrates Flashtec 5016 Enterprise SSD Controller
![](https://twitter.com/share?url=https://compbuddey.blogspot.com/2024/05/upcoming-amd-ryzen-ai-9-hx-170_30.html&text=Upcoming AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 Processor Leaked By ASUS? <p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21386/upcoming-amd-ryzen-ai-9-hx-170-processor-leaked-by-asus-"><img src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21386/AMD Ryzen AI_575px.jpg" alt="" /></a></p><p><p>In what appears to be a mistake or a jump of the gun by ASUS, they have seemingly published a list of specifications for one of its key notebooks that all but allude to the next generation of AMD's mobile processors. While we saw AMD toy with a new nomenclature for their Phoenix silicon (Ryzen 7040 series), it seems as though AMD is once again changing things around where their naming scheme for processors is concerned.</p>
<p>The ASUS listing, which has now since been deleted, but as of writing is still available through Google's cache, highlights a model that is already in existence, the VivoBook S 16 OLED (M5606), but is listed with an unknown AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 processor. Which, based on its specificiations, is certainly not part of the current Hawk Point (Phoenix/Phoenix 2) platform.</p>
<p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21386/upcoming-amd-ryzen-ai-9-hx-170-processor-leaked-by-asus-"><img alt="" src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21386/image_2024_05_07T13_50_18_679Z_575px.png" /></a><br />
<em>The cache on Google shows the ASUS Vivobook S 16 OLED with a Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 Processor</em></p>
<p>While it does happen in this industry occasionally, what looks like an accidental leak by ASUS on one of their product pages has unearthed an unknown processor from AMD. This first came to our attention via a post on Twitter by user <a href="https://twitter.com/harukaze5719/status/1787781189249692025">@harukaze5719</a>. While we don't speculate on rumors, we confirmed this ourselves by digging through Google's cache. Sure enough, as the image above from Google highlights, it lists a newly unannounced model of Ryzen mobile processor. Under the listing via the product compare section for the ASUS Vivobook S 16 OLED (M5606) notebook, it is listed with the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 170, which appears to be one of AMD's upcoming Zen 5-based mobile chips codenamed Strix Point.</p>
<p>So with the seemingly new nomenclature that AMD has gone with, it has a clear focus on AI, or rather Ryzen AI, by including it in the name. The Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 looks set to be a 12C/24T Zen 5 mobile variant, with their Ryzen AI NPU or similar integrated within the chip. Given that Microsoft has defined that only processors with an NPU with 45 TOPS of performance or over constitute being considered an 'AI PC', it's likely the Xilinx (now AMD Xilinx) based NPU will meet these requirements as the listing states the chip has up to 77 TOPS of AI performance available. The HX series is strikingly similar to AMD's (and Intel's) previous HX naming series for their desktop replacement SKUs for laptops, so assuming any of the details of ASUS's error are correct, then this is presumably a very high-end, high-TDP part.</p>
<p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21386/upcoming-amd-ryzen-ai-9-hx-170-processor-leaked-by-asus-"><img alt="" src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21386/AMD%20Notebook%20Roadmap.JPG" style="width: 100%;" /></a><br />
<em>AMD Laptop Roadmap from Zen 2 in 2019 to Zen 5 on track for release in 2024</em></p>
<p>We've known for some time that AMD plans to release AMD's Zen 5-based Strix Point line-up sometime in 2024. Given the timing of Computex 2024, which is just over four weeks away, we still don't quite have the full picture of Zen 5's performance and its architectural shift over Zen 4. <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21251/amd-zen-5-based-cpus-for-client-and-server-applications-due-in-2024">AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su also confirmed that Zen 5 will come with enhanced RDNA graphics within the Strix Point</a> SoC by stating "<em>Strix combines our next-gen Zen 5 core with enhanced RDNA graphics and an updated Ryzen AI engine to significantly increase the performance, energy efficiency, and AI capabilities of PCs,</em>"</p>
<p>While it's entirely possible as we lead up to Computex 2024 that AMD is prepared to announce more details about Zen 5, nothing is confirmed. We do know that the <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21274/amd-ceo-dr-lisa-su-to-deliver-opening-keynote-at-computex-2024">CEO of AMD, Dr. Lisa Su is scheduled to deliver the opening keynote of the show</a>, Dr. Lisa Su <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/17401/computex-2022-amd-live-blog-keynote-2am-et0600-utc">unveiled their Zen 4 microarchitecture at Computex 2022</a> during AMD's keynote and even unveiled their 3D V-Cache stacking, which we know today as the <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/16722/computex-2021-amds-keynote-a-live-blog-10pm-et">Ryzen X3D CPUs back at Computex 2021</a>.</p>
<p>With that in mind, AMD and Dr. Lisa Su love to announce new products and ... CPUs){kind=link}
![](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://compbuddey.blogspot.com/2024/05/upcoming-amd-ryzen-ai-9-hx-170_30.html&media=https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_s4Qn6V6UpZUTCwZivURVqrXw5kgk2vXoFiNcB_svRceGS_7tx_7d-SGEE7s6Gz1-GySuubHd-dfrtwaoUvT7_zMNcjIcEhz6BcOmHgJve8CbO4EjcP-yJPEP0aRyp0BNv_JQp4&description=Upcoming AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 Processor Leaked By ASUS? <p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21386/upcoming-amd-ryzen-ai-9-hx-170-processor-leaked-by-asus-"><img src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21386/AMD Ryzen AI_575px.jpg" alt="" /></a></p><p><p>In what appears to be a mistake or a jump of the gun by ASUS, they have seemingly published a list of specifications for one of its key notebooks that all but allude to the next generation of AMD's mobile processors. While we saw AMD toy with a new nomenclature for their Phoenix silicon (Ryzen 7040 series), it seems as though AMD is once again changing things around where their naming scheme for processors is concerned.</p>
<p>The ASUS listing, which has now since been deleted, but as of writing is still available through Google's cache, highlights a model that is already in existence, the VivoBook S 16 OLED (M5606), but is listed with an unknown AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 processor. Which, based on its specificiations, is certainly not part of the current Hawk Point (Phoenix/Phoenix 2) platform.</p>
<p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21386/upcoming-amd-ryzen-ai-9-hx-170-processor-leaked-by-asus-"><img alt="" src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21386/image_2024_05_07T13_50_18_679Z_575px.png" /></a><br />
<em>The cache on Google shows the ASUS Vivobook S 16 OLED with a Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 Processor</em></p>
<p>While it does happen in this industry occasionally, what looks like an accidental leak by ASUS on one of their product pages has unearthed an unknown processor from AMD. This first came to our attention via a post on Twitter by user <a href="https://twitter.com/harukaze5719/status/1787781189249692025">@harukaze5719</a>. While we don't speculate on rumors, we confirmed this ourselves by digging through Google's cache. Sure enough, as the image above from Google highlights, it lists a newly unannounced model of Ryzen mobile processor. Under the listing via the product compare section for the ASUS Vivobook S 16 OLED (M5606) notebook, it is listed with the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 170, which appears to be one of AMD's upcoming Zen 5-based mobile chips codenamed Strix Point.</p>
<p>So with the seemingly new nomenclature that AMD has gone with, it has a clear focus on AI, or rather Ryzen AI, by including it in the name. The Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 looks set to be a 12C/24T Zen 5 mobile variant, with their Ryzen AI NPU or similar integrated within the chip. Given that Microsoft has defined that only processors with an NPU with 45 TOPS of performance or over constitute being considered an 'AI PC', it's likely the Xilinx (now AMD Xilinx) based NPU will meet these requirements as the listing states the chip has up to 77 TOPS of AI performance available. The HX series is strikingly similar to AMD's (and Intel's) previous HX naming series for their desktop replacement SKUs for laptops, so assuming any of the details of ASUS's error are correct, then this is presumably a very high-end, high-TDP part.</p>
<p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21386/upcoming-amd-ryzen-ai-9-hx-170-processor-leaked-by-asus-"><img alt="" src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21386/AMD%20Notebook%20Roadmap.JPG" style="width: 100%;" /></a><br />
<em>AMD Laptop Roadmap from Zen 2 in 2019 to Zen 5 on track for release in 2024</em></p>
<p>We've known for some time that AMD plans to release AMD's Zen 5-based Strix Point line-up sometime in 2024. Given the timing of Computex 2024, which is just over four weeks away, we still don't quite have the full picture of Zen 5's performance and its architectural shift over Zen 4. <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21251/amd-zen-5-based-cpus-for-client-and-server-applications-due-in-2024">AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su also confirmed that Zen 5 will come with enhanced RDNA graphics within the Strix Point</a> SoC by stating "<em>Strix combines our next-gen Zen 5 core with enhanced RDNA graphics and an updated Ryzen AI engine to significantly increase the performance, energy efficiency, and AI capabilities of PCs,</em>"</p>
<p>While it's entirely possible as we lead up to Computex 2024 that AMD is prepared to announce more details about Zen 5, nothing is confirmed. We do know that the <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21274/amd-ceo-dr-lisa-su-to-deliver-opening-keynote-at-computex-2024">CEO of AMD, Dr. Lisa Su is scheduled to deliver the opening keynote of the show</a>, Dr. Lisa Su <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/17401/computex-2022-amd-live-blog-keynote-2am-et0600-utc">unveiled their Zen 4 microarchitecture at Computex 2022</a> during AMD's keynote and even unveiled their 3D V-Cache stacking, which we know today as the <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/16722/computex-2021-amds-keynote-a-live-blog-10pm-et">Ryzen X3D CPUs back at Computex 2021</a>.</p>
<p>With that in mind, AMD and Dr. Lisa Su love to announce new products and ... CPUs){kind=link}
![](https://web.whatsapp.com/send?text=Upcoming AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 Processor Leaked By ASUS? <p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21386/upcoming-amd-ryzen-ai-9-hx-170-processor-leaked-by-asus-"><img src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21386/AMD Ryzen AI_575px.jpg" alt="" /></a></p><p><p>In what appears to be a mistake or a jump of the gun by ASUS, they have seemingly published a list of specifications for one of its key notebooks that all but allude to the next generation of AMD's mobile processors. While we saw AMD toy with a new nomenclature for their Phoenix silicon (Ryzen 7040 series), it seems as though AMD is once again changing things around where their naming scheme for processors is concerned.</p>
<p>The ASUS listing, which has now since been deleted, but as of writing is still available through Google's cache, highlights a model that is already in existence, the VivoBook S 16 OLED (M5606), but is listed with an unknown AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 processor. Which, based on its specificiations, is certainly not part of the current Hawk Point (Phoenix/Phoenix 2) platform.</p>
<p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21386/upcoming-amd-ryzen-ai-9-hx-170-processor-leaked-by-asus-"><img alt="" src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21386/image_2024_05_07T13_50_18_679Z_575px.png" /></a><br />
<em>The cache on Google shows the ASUS Vivobook S 16 OLED with a Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 Processor</em></p>
<p>While it does happen in this industry occasionally, what looks like an accidental leak by ASUS on one of their product pages has unearthed an unknown processor from AMD. This first came to our attention via a post on Twitter by user <a href="https://twitter.com/harukaze5719/status/1787781189249692025">@harukaze5719</a>. While we don't speculate on rumors, we confirmed this ourselves by digging through Google's cache. Sure enough, as the image above from Google highlights, it lists a newly unannounced model of Ryzen mobile processor. Under the listing via the product compare section for the ASUS Vivobook S 16 OLED (M5606) notebook, it is listed with the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 170, which appears to be one of AMD's upcoming Zen 5-based mobile chips codenamed Strix Point.</p>
<p>So with the seemingly new nomenclature that AMD has gone with, it has a clear focus on AI, or rather Ryzen AI, by including it in the name. The Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 looks set to be a 12C/24T Zen 5 mobile variant, with their Ryzen AI NPU or similar integrated within the chip. Given that Microsoft has defined that only processors with an NPU with 45 TOPS of performance or over constitute being considered an 'AI PC', it's likely the Xilinx (now AMD Xilinx) based NPU will meet these requirements as the listing states the chip has up to 77 TOPS of AI performance available. The HX series is strikingly similar to AMD's (and Intel's) previous HX naming series for their desktop replacement SKUs for laptops, so assuming any of the details of ASUS's error are correct, then this is presumably a very high-end, high-TDP part.</p>
<p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21386/upcoming-amd-ryzen-ai-9-hx-170-processor-leaked-by-asus-"><img alt="" src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21386/AMD%20Notebook%20Roadmap.JPG" style="width: 100%;" /></a><br />
<em>AMD Laptop Roadmap from Zen 2 in 2019 to Zen 5 on track for release in 2024</em></p>
<p>We've known for some time that AMD plans to release AMD's Zen 5-based Strix Point line-up sometime in 2024. Given the timing of Computex 2024, which is just over four weeks away, we still don't quite have the full picture of Zen 5's performance and its architectural shift over Zen 4. <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21251/amd-zen-5-based-cpus-for-client-and-server-applications-due-in-2024">AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su also confirmed that Zen 5 will come with enhanced RDNA graphics within the Strix Point</a> SoC by stating "<em>Strix combines our next-gen Zen 5 core with enhanced RDNA graphics and an updated Ryzen AI engine to significantly increase the performance, energy efficiency, and AI capabilities of PCs,</em>"</p>
<p>While it's entirely possible as we lead up to Computex 2024 that AMD is prepared to announce more details about Zen 5, nothing is confirmed. We do know that the <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21274/amd-ceo-dr-lisa-su-to-deliver-opening-keynote-at-computex-2024">CEO of AMD, Dr. Lisa Su is scheduled to deliver the opening keynote of the show</a>, Dr. Lisa Su <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/17401/computex-2022-amd-live-blog-keynote-2am-et0600-utc">unveiled their Zen 4 microarchitecture at Computex 2022</a> during AMD's keynote and even unveiled their 3D V-Cache stacking, which we know today as the <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/16722/computex-2021-amds-keynote-a-live-blog-10pm-et">Ryzen X3D CPUs back at Computex 2021</a>.</p>
<p>With that in mind, AMD and Dr. Lisa Su love to announce new products and ... CPUs | https://compbuddey.blogspot.com/2024/05/upcoming-amd-ryzen-ai-9-hx-170_30.html){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Upcoming AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 Processor Leaked By ASUS? <p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21386/upcoming-amd-ryzen-ai-9-hx-170-processor-leaked-by-asus-"><img src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21386/AMD Ryzen AI_575px.jpg" alt="" /></a></p><p><p>In what appears to be a mistake or a jump of the gun by ASUS, they have seemingly published a list of specifications for one of its key notebooks that all but allude to the next generation of AMD's mobile processors. While we saw AMD toy with a new nomenclature for their Phoenix silicon (Ryzen 7040 series), it seems as though AMD is once again changing things around where their naming scheme for processors is concerned.</p>
<p>The ASUS listing, which has now since been deleted, but as of writing is still available through Google's cache, highlights a model that is already in existence, the VivoBook S 16 OLED (M5606), but is listed with an unknown AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 processor. Which, based on its specificiations, is certainly not part of the current Hawk Point (Phoenix/Phoenix 2) platform.</p>
<p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21386/upcoming-amd-ryzen-ai-9-hx-170-processor-leaked-by-asus-"><img alt="" src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21386/image_2024_05_07T13_50_18_679Z_575px.png" /></a><br />
<em>The cache on Google shows the ASUS Vivobook S 16 OLED with a Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 Processor</em></p>
<p>While it does happen in this industry occasionally, what looks like an accidental leak by ASUS on one of their product pages has unearthed an unknown processor from AMD. This first came to our attention via a post on Twitter by user <a href="https://twitter.com/harukaze5719/status/1787781189249692025">@harukaze5719</a>. While we don't speculate on rumors, we confirmed this ourselves by digging through Google's cache. Sure enough, as the image above from Google highlights, it lists a newly unannounced model of Ryzen mobile processor. Under the listing via the product compare section for the ASUS Vivobook S 16 OLED (M5606) notebook, it is listed with the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 170, which appears to be one of AMD's upcoming Zen 5-based mobile chips codenamed Strix Point.</p>
<p>So with the seemingly new nomenclature that AMD has gone with, it has a clear focus on AI, or rather Ryzen AI, by including it in the name. The Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 looks set to be a 12C/24T Zen 5 mobile variant, with their Ryzen AI NPU or similar integrated within the chip. Given that Microsoft has defined that only processors with an NPU with 45 TOPS of performance or over constitute being considered an 'AI PC', it's likely the Xilinx (now AMD Xilinx) based NPU will meet these requirements as the listing states the chip has up to 77 TOPS of AI performance available. The HX series is strikingly similar to AMD's (and Intel's) previous HX naming series for their desktop replacement SKUs for laptops, so assuming any of the details of ASUS's error are correct, then this is presumably a very high-end, high-TDP part.</p>
<p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21386/upcoming-amd-ryzen-ai-9-hx-170-processor-leaked-by-asus-"><img alt="" src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21386/AMD%20Notebook%20Roadmap.JPG" style="width: 100%;" /></a><br />
<em>AMD Laptop Roadmap from Zen 2 in 2019 to Zen 5 on track for release in 2024</em></p>
<p>We've known for some time that AMD plans to release AMD's Zen 5-based Strix Point line-up sometime in 2024. Given the timing of Computex 2024, which is just over four weeks away, we still don't quite have the full picture of Zen 5's performance and its architectural shift over Zen 4. <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21251/amd-zen-5-based-cpus-for-client-and-server-applications-due-in-2024">AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su also confirmed that Zen 5 will come with enhanced RDNA graphics within the Strix Point</a> SoC by stating "<em>Strix combines our next-gen Zen 5 core with enhanced RDNA graphics and an updated Ryzen AI engine to significantly increase the performance, energy efficiency, and AI capabilities of PCs,</em>"</p>
<p>While it's entirely possible as we lead up to Computex 2024 that AMD is prepared to announce more details about Zen 5, nothing is confirmed. We do know that the <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21274/amd-ceo-dr-lisa-su-to-deliver-opening-keynote-at-computex-2024">CEO of AMD, Dr. Lisa Su is scheduled to deliver the opening keynote of the show</a>, Dr. Lisa Su <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/17401/computex-2022-amd-live-blog-keynote-2am-et0600-utc">unveiled their Zen 4 microarchitecture at Computex 2022</a> during AMD's keynote and even unveiled their 3D V-Cache stacking, which we know today as the <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/16722/computex-2021-amds-keynote-a-live-blog-10pm-et">Ryzen X3D CPUs back at Computex 2021</a>.</p>
<p>With that in mind, AMD and Dr. Lisa Su love to announce new products and ... CPUs&body=https://compbuddey.blogspot.com/2024/05/upcoming-amd-ryzen-ai-9-hx-170_30.html){kind=link}
Microchip recently announced the availability of their second PCIe Gen 5 enterprise SSD controller - the Flashtec 5016. Like the 4016, this is also a 16-channel controller, but there are some key updates:
- PCIe 5.0 lane organization: Operation in x4 or dual independent x2 / x2 mode in the 5016, compared to the x8, or x4, or dual independent x4 / x2 mode in the 4016.
- DRAM support: Four ranks of DDR5-5200 in the 5016, compared to two ranks of DDR4-3200 in the 4016.
- Extended NAND support: 2400 MT/s NAND in the 4016, compared to the 3200 MT/s NAND support in the 5016.
- Performance improvements: The 5016 is capable of delivering 3.5M+ random read IOPS compared to the 3M+ of the 4016.
Microchip's enterprise SSD controllers provide a high level of flexibility to SSD vendors by providing them with significant horsepower and accelerators. The 5016 includes Cortex-A53 cores for SSD vendors to run custom applications relevant to SSD management. However, compared to the Gen4 controllers, there are two additional cores in the CPU cluster. The DRAM subsystem includes ECC support (both out-of-band and inline, as desired by the SSD vendor).
At FMS 2024, the company demonstrated an application of the neural network engines embedded in the Gen5 controllers. Controllers usually employ a 'read-retry' operation with altered read-out voltages for flash reads that do not complete successfully. Microchip implemented a machine learning approach to determine the read-out voltage based on the health history of the NAND block using the NN engines in the controller. This approach delivers tangible benefits for read latency and power consumption (thanks to a smaller number of errors on the first read).
The 4016 and 5016 come with a single-chip root of trust implementation for hardware security. A secure boot process with dual-signature authentication ensures that the controller firmware is not maliciously altered in the field. The company also brought out the advantages of their controller's implementation of SR-IOV, flexible data placement, and zoned namespaces along with their 'credit engine' scheme for multi-tenant cloud workloads. These aspects were also brought out in other demonstrations.
Microchip's press release included quotes from the usual NAND vendors - Solidigm, Kioxia, and Micron. On the customer front, Longsys has been using Flashtec controllers in their enterprise offerings along with YMTC NAND. It is likely that this collaboration will continue further using the new 5016 controller.
Storage
Intel Sells Its Arm Shares, Reduces Stakes in Other Companies
Intel has divested its entire stake in Arm Holdings during the second quarter, raising approximately $147 million. Alongside this, Intel sold its stake in cybersecurity firm ZeroFox and reduced its holdings in Astera Labs, all as part of a broader effort to manage costs and recover cash amid significant financial challenges.
The sale of Intel's 1.18 million shares in Arm Holdings, as reported in a recent SEC filing, comes at a time when the company is struggling with substantial financial losses. Despite the $147 million generated from the sale, Intel reported a $120 million net loss on its equity investments for the quarter, which is a part of a larger $1.6 billion loss that Intel faced during this period.
In addition to selling its stake in Arm, Intel also exited its investment in ZeroFox and reduced its involvement with Astera Labs, a company known for developing connectivity platforms for enterprise hardware. These moves are in line with Intel's strategy to reduce costs and stabilize its financial position as it faces ongoing market challenges.
Despite the divestment, Intel's past investment in Arm was likely driven by strategic considerations. Arm Holdings is a significant force in the semiconductor industry, with its designs powering most mobile devices, and, for obvious reasons, Intel would like to address these. Intel and Arm are also collaborating on datacenter platforms tailored for Intel's 18A process technology. Additionally, Arm might view Intel as a potential licensee for its technologies and a valuable partner for other companies that license Arm's designs.
Intel's investment in Astera Labs was also a strategic one as the company probably wanted to secure steady supply of smart retimers, smart cable modems, and CXL memory controller, which are used in volumes in datacenters and Intel is certainly interested in selling as many datacenter CPUs as possible.
Intel's financial struggles were highlighted earlier this month when the company released a disappointing earnings report, which led to a 33% drop in its stock value, erasing billions of dollars of capitalization. To counter these difficulties, Intel announced plans to cut 15,000 jobs and implement other expense reductions. The company has also suspended its dividend, signaling the depth of its efforts to conserve cash and focus on recovery. When it comes to divestment of Arm stock, the need for immediate financial stabilization has presumably taken precedence, leading to the decision.
CPUs
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's.
Silicon Motion Demonstrates Flexible Data Placement on MonTitan Gen 5 Enterprise SSD Platform
At FMS 2024, the technological requirements from the storage and memory subsystem took center stage. Both SSD and controller vendors had various demonstrations touting their suitability for different stages of the AI data pipeline - ingestion, preparation, training, checkpointing, and inference. Vendors like Solidigm have different types of SSDs optimized for different stages of the pipeline. At the same time, controller vendors have taken advantage of one of the features introduced recently in the NVM Express standard - Flexible Data Placement (FDP).
FDP involves the host providing information / hints about the areas where the controller could place the incoming write data in order to reduce the write amplification. These hints are generated based on specific block sizes advertised by the device. The feature is completely backwards-compatible, with non-FDP hosts working just as before with FDP-enabled SSDs, and vice-versa.
Silicon Motion's MonTitan Gen 5 Enterprise SSD Platform was announced back in 2022. Since then, Silicon Motion has been touting the flexibility of the platform, allowing its customers to incorporate their own features as part of the customization process. This approach is common in the enterprise space, as we have seen with Marvell's Bravera SC5 SSD controller in the DapuStor SSDs and Microchip's Flashtec controllers in the Longsys FORESEE enterprise SSDs.
At FMS 2024, the company was demonstrating the advantages of flexible data placement by allowing a single QLC SSD based on their MonTitan platform to take part in different stages of the AI data pipeline while maintaining the required quality of service (minimum bandwidth) for each process. The company even has a trademarked name (PerformaShape) for the firmware feature in the controller that allows the isolation of different concurrent SSD accesses (from different stages in the AI data pipeline) to guarantee this QoS. Silicon Motion claims that this scheme will enable its customers to get the maximum write performance possible from QLC SSDs without negatively impacting the performance of other types of accesses.
Silicon Motion and Phison have market leadership in the client SSD controller market with similar approaches. However, their enterprise SSD controller marketing couldn't be more different. While Phison has gone in for a turnkey solution with their Gen 5 SSD platform (to the extent of not adopting the white label route for this generation, and instead opting to get the SSDs qualified with different cloud service providers themselves), Silicon Motion is opting for a different approach. The flexibility and customization possibilities can make platforms like the MonTitan appeal to flash array vendors.
Storage
Intel Sells Its Arm Shares, Reduces Stakes in Other Companies
Intel has divested its entire stake in Arm Holdings during the second quarter, raising approximately $147 million. Alongside this, Intel sold its stake in cybersecurity firm ZeroFox and reduced its holdings in Astera Labs, all as part of a broader effort to manage costs and recover cash amid significant financial challenges.
The sale of Intel's 1.18 million shares in Arm Holdings, as reported in a recent SEC filing, comes at a time when the company is struggling with substantial financial losses. Despite the $147 million generated from the sale, Intel reported a $120 million net loss on its equity investments for the quarter, which is a part of a larger $1.6 billion loss that Intel faced during this period.
In addition to selling its stake in Arm, Intel also exited its investment in ZeroFox and reduced its involvement with Astera Labs, a company known for developing connectivity platforms for enterprise hardware. These moves are in line with Intel's strategy to reduce costs and stabilize its financial position as it faces ongoing market challenges.
Despite the divestment, Intel's past investment in Arm was likely driven by strategic considerations. Arm Holdings is a significant force in the semiconductor industry, with its designs powering most mobile devices, and, for obvious reasons, Intel would like to address these. Intel and Arm are also collaborating on datacenter platforms tailored for Intel's 18A process technology. Additionally, Arm might view Intel as a potential licensee for its technologies and a valuable partner for other companies that license Arm's designs.
Intel's investment in Astera Labs was also a strategic one as the company probably wanted to secure steady supply of smart retimers, smart cable modems, and CXL memory controller, which are used in volumes in datacenters and Intel is certainly interested in selling as many datacenter CPUs as possible.
Intel's financial struggles were highlighted earlier this month when the company released a disappointing earnings report, which led to a 33% drop in its stock value, erasing billions of dollars of capitalization. To counter these difficulties, Intel announced plans to cut 15,000 jobs and implement other expense reductions. The company has also suspended its dividend, signaling the depth of its efforts to conserve cash and focus on recovery. When it comes to divestment of Arm stock, the need for immediate financial stabilization has presumably taken precedence, leading to the decision.
CPUs
Intel Sells Its Arm Shares, Reduces Stakes in Other Companies
Intel has divested its entire stake in Arm Holdings during the second quarter, raising approximately $147 million. Alongside this, Intel sold its stake in cybersecurity firm ZeroFox and reduced its holdings in Astera Labs, all as part of a broader effort to manage costs and recover cash amid significant financial challenges.
The sale of Intel's 1.18 million shares in Arm Holdings, as reported in a recent SEC filing, comes at a time when the company is struggling with substantial financial losses. Despite the $147 million generated from the sale, Intel reported a $120 million net loss on its equity investments for the quarter, which is a part of a larger $1.6 billion loss that Intel faced during this period.
In addition to selling its stake in Arm, Intel also exited its investment in ZeroFox and reduced its involvement with Astera Labs, a company known for developing connectivity platforms for enterprise hardware. These moves are in line with Intel's strategy to reduce costs and stabilize its financial position as it faces ongoing market challenges.
Despite the divestment, Intel's past investment in Arm was likely driven by strategic considerations. Arm Holdings is a significant force in the semiconductor industry, with its designs powering most mobile devices, and, for obvious reasons, Intel would like to address these. Intel and Arm are also collaborating on datacenter platforms tailored for Intel's 18A process technology. Additionally, Arm might view Intel as a potential licensee for its technologies and a valuable partner for other companies that license Arm's designs.
Intel's investment in Astera Labs was also a strategic one as the company probably wanted to secure steady supply of smart retimers, smart cable modems, and CXL memory controller, which are used in volumes in datacenters and Intel is certainly interested in selling as many datacenter CPUs as possible.
Intel's financial struggles were highlighted earlier this month when the company released a disappointing earnings report, which led to a 33% drop in its stock value, erasing billions of dollars of capitalization. To counter these difficulties, Intel announced plans to cut 15,000 jobs and implement other expense reductions. The company has also suspended its dividend, signaling the depth of its efforts to conserve cash and focus on recovery. When it comes to divestment of Arm stock, the need for immediate financial stabilization has presumably taken precedence, leading to the decision.
CPUs
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