AMD demoed its 64-core/128 thread dual socket Naples server platform against a comparable Intel server at its recent Tech Day but timed the announcement to coincide with the OCP (Open Compute Project) Summit this week. AMD presented a narrow workload that doesn't do much to reveal Naples' broader performance trend, although it does compare favorably against the Intel comparison platform. More importantly, AMD also revealed more details on the architecture and design of its forthcoming server SoCs.
In the past, AMD's desktop PC market penetration has lagged woefully behind Intel's, but a quick glance at its data center share highlights an even larger disparity between the two companies. Intel currently commands ~99% of data center server sockets, and its dominance in the high-margin segment has been a key to its success on many fronts. Intel is leveraging its commanding Xeon lead as a springboard to attack other lucrative segments, such as networking with Omni-Path/silicon photonics and memory with 3D XPoint, but it leverages locked-down proprietary interconnects that have raised the ire of the broader industry.
AMD, by contrast, leverages open protocols where it can and participates in developmental efforts on several new open interconnects, such as CCIX, Gen-Z, and OpenCAPI, so for the broader industry, a competitive AMD represents more than just a cost advantage and second source. Let's dive in.
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