MWC 2024 | Intel previews Sierra Forest Xeon CPUs with up to 288 cores, announces Granite Rapids-D Xeons launching in 2025

Intel this week detailed some specifications of its upcoming Sierra Forest Xeon processors and unveiled Granite Rapids-D, a server CPU family it will launch in 2025 to tackle vRAN, AI, and edge computing goals.

At MWC 2024, Intel previewed its Sierra Forest Xeon CPUs, which will officially launch later this year. The new Xeon family of chips will feature processors with up to 288 efficiency cores (E-cores) crammed into a single chip. The company said Sierra Forest is "well-suited for 5G core workloads" and that the processors should deliver up to a 2.7x performance per rack increase. Because it uses E-cores, Sierra Forest will also focus on energy efficiency.

Intel is also preparing a big push into the virtual radio access network (vRAN) and edge computing space this year and next. To that end, the company announced its line of Granite Rapids-D Xeon processors, which are set to launch in 2025. The company did not offer details about Granite Rapids-D, though it did claim that the new processors would use "Intel AVX for vRAN and integrated Intel vRAN Boost acceleration."

Intel said that the company is currently sampling silicon for the new generation and that both Samsung and Ericsson have thrown their hats in the ring for manufacturing the CPUs in Suwon, South Korea and Santa Clara, California, U.S., respectively.

Intel also mentioned it is deploying Intel vRAN AI Development Kits early to select partners, including AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, SK Telecom, and Vodafone. These kits are designed to help companies build and train AI models for use on networks, primarily for vRAN applications.