Intel is pulling the wraps off its sixth-generation Xeon CPUs outfitted exclusively with performance cores, or P-cores in Intel parlance. These chips go by the codename Granite Rapids and will replace its fifth-generation "Scalable Xeon" Emerald Rapids CPUs in the company's lineup for high-performance computing (HPC).

Alongside the debut of the Xeon 6900 series, Intel today officially launched the Gaudi 3 machine learning accelerator it introduced in April. The latter chip is positioned as an alternative to Nvidia Corp.’s market-leading graphics processing units. Intel says the Gaudi 3 can perform inference 30% faster than Nvidia’s previous-generation H200 GPU.

Intel is launching new Xeon 6 processors with performance cores as well as Gaudi 3 AI accelerators to stay competitive in the AI wars.

With up to 128 performance cores, Intel's Xeon 6900P is to close the performance gap to AMD Epyc CPUs with immediate effect. Initial measurements are optimistic

Intel is launching its most powerful Xeon processors yet with the Xeon 6 6900P Series, featuring up to 128 P-cores and a massive 504MB of L3 cache