Intel has once again delayed the large-scale launch of its latest generation of Xeon server CPUs, codenamed Sapphire Rapids.
At a conference earlier this week, the company's data center silicon manager, Sandra Rivera, announced that Intel will need more time to validate new chips with different system configurations.
Rivera assured customers that Sapphire Rapids chips will still be widely available later this year, but noted that unexpected bottlenecks caused the company to further delay high-volume manufacturing.
Intel Sapphire Rapids Delays
The deployment of Sapphire Rapids has been interrupted by repeated delays. Originally slated for a 2021 release, the new Xeon chips were first delayed until early 2022. And then Intel was forced to delay high-volume availability again, this time until mid-2020.
The company made good on its promise to get the new chips into the hands of some customers in the first quarter, but it now looks like most will have to wait until the end of the third quarter to get access to the silicon.
“With innovation comes a level of complexity, and we find that all customers – OEMs, ODMs, hyperscalers – have a high demand for platform validation with us,” explained Rivera. “At this point, we anticipate more time for platform and product validation, so we see the Sapphire Rapids ramp later in the year than we originally anticipated.”
"Ice Lake Intelligence will be the biggest product for 2022 as we scale Sapphire later this year and then of course throughout 2023," he added.
However, Rivera was quick to dismiss concerns that Sapphire Rapid's repeated heists signal a delay in the launch of the next generation of Xeon chips, codenamed Emerald Rapids.
She told the audience that the Emerald Rapids chips are still scheduled for release in late 2023, bringing with them a "nice performance boost" in memory, networking, and overall performance.
Via Tom's Hardware(Opens in a new tab)