Intel Breaks Up Graphics Group, Raja Koduri Moves Back to Chief Architect Role

Intel announced today that it will split its AXG graphics group to serve the gaming and data center markets separately. Raja Koduri, currently AXG business unit executive and his vice president, will return to his previous role as Intel chief and his architect.

“Discrete graphics and accelerated computing are key growth engines for Intel. With its flagship product now in production, it is evolving its structure to accelerate and expand its impact and drive its go-to-market strategy with a unified voice to its customers. This includes the Consumer Graphics team joining the Client Computing group and the Accelerated Computing team joining the Data Center and AI groups. Additionally, Raja Koduri will return to his Architect role as Intel Chief to focus on expanding our efforts across CPUs, GPUs and AI, and accelerating high-priority technology programs. “

After speaking with Intel, the company assures us that they remain fully committed to their existing roadmap for Arc consumer discrete GPUs. These GPUs were added to the recently launched Alchemist series and will continue to be supported.

Intel’s Raja Koduri, who led AXG, will return to his previous role as Intel Chief Architect. Koduri will work on a high performance technical program with a view to promoting the integration of GPUs, CPUs and his AI architecture. falcon shores Intel’s zettascale ambitions.

Koduri Assumed current position as leader of AXG However, the new title sounds similar to his original one. Joined Intel in 2017 After five years at AMD (and short break).As Koduri shared on Twitter yesterdayhe is currently recovering from unscheduled back surgery in India, where he will remain for a month before returning to work.

This new collaboration brings the consumer portion of the Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics (AXG) business unit under Intel’s Client Computing Group (CCG). Intel’s CCG is responsible for developing consumer computing platforms around the company’s CPU products. Lisa Pearce, best known for her work leading the software and driver division of the GPU team, will lead her AXG unit, which sits under CCG. Pierce will report to current head of CCG, Michelle Johnston, and her Holthaus.

The teams responsible for data center and supercomputing GPUs such as the Ponte Vecchio and Rialto Bridge products will move to the Data Center and AI (DCAI) business unit. The GPU SoC and IP design team will also come under DCAI’s umbrella, but will continue to support the client graphics team. Jeff McVeigh, currently vice president and general manager of the Supercomputing Group, will serve as interim leader of his AXG team as Intel is looking for a permanent leader. McVeigh reports to Sandra Rivera, the current head of DCAI.

In the first quarter of this year, Intel reorganized its financial reporting into six business units. Despite the tiered adjustments, AXG will continue to report earnings as his one of six Intel business units in the upcoming January earnings call.

Naturally, this reorganization of the GPU group raises concerns that Intel plans to end its consumer gaming GPU business. The bar is high for any new GPU manufacturer, and Intel is his first new discrete GPU player in 25 years. It’s no secret that Arc gaming GPUs hit the market later than expected. and AMD’s offerings, failing to take a place among the best GPUs.Much of that disparity has been blamed on lackluster launch day drivers, but that Improved in last few monthsMarket conditions are also bleak as GPUs are oversupplied after several years of cryptocurrency undersupply.

All of these factors have contributed to a recent wave of speculation claiming Intel will discontinue its consumer GPU division. Still, the company says it remains fully committed to its existing and future gaming graphics card lineup. Additionally, Pat Gelsinger communicated his long-term desire to develop a GPU, recently stating: Well, I’m back, and we’re going to get it done now.

According to Intel, the consumer GPU team is now fully committed to completing and releasing Battlemage. Considering Alchemist’s delay, Arc B series (Battlemage) could release as early as 2023.

However, Intel’s Tom Petersen has avoided divulging details of the official release, saying that the first rollout of Arc “has learned its lessons”. on the other hand, Ark A770, A750When A380 It had a rough launch, but while things have improved, it still competes with products that launched two years ago at best. Battlemage could be a fork in Intel’s consumer GPU division. There’s a lot of speculation out there, but it’s fair to assume that Intel will have a hard time justifying continued investment if it doesn’t reach an inflection point in the near future.

While the uncertainty surrounding Intel’s gaming GPU business is clear, there’s no question that the company’s data centers and HPC-ready GPUs will remain key strategic assets to address the AI ​​market. Data centers are high-margin land, and supercomputers have for some time opted for increasing numbers of GPUs rather than CPUs. As such, Intel needs competitive data center GPU solutions to compete with the likes of Nvidia and AMD, as well as underlying IP to power future architectures like Falcon Shores.