Not 6th Gen Xeon Scalable but Xeon 6
Intel shifts naming for its data-center CPU series.
Not as important as the reveal of the Meteor Lake-PS CPU series with LGA-1851 socket, not as interesting as the Gaudi 3 AI-accelerator launch, but Intel also announced an interesting change to product naming. A change that will affect the next generation and all future generations of Xeon CPU series.
At Intel Vision 2024, the company announced that what would have been called 6th Gen Xeon Scalable will simply be called Xeon 6 . This name change is meant to shift the nomenclature, mirroring what Intel has shown for consumer-grade chips under Core Ultra branding. It will allow intel to ‘tell a unified Xeon story, ease customer navigation and amplify performance signals’.
The name will not impact existing products, including the 5th Gen Xeon Scalable called “Granite Rapids”. Here’s a list of all Xeon Scalable architectures:
Xeon Scalable CPU series
- 1st Gen Xeon Scalable : Skylake Released
- 2nd Gen Xeon Scalable : Cascade Lake Released
- 3rd Gen Xeon Scalable: Ice & Copper Lake Released
- 4th Gen Xeon Scalable : Sapphire Rapids Released
- 5th Gen Xeon Scalable : Emerald Rapids Released
- 🆕 Xeon 6 : Sierra Forest & Granite Rapids To be Released
Xeon 6 branding, Source: Intel
The series name aside, SKU naming remains an issue for data-center (and workstation) CPUs. Each Xeon lineup is further divided into sub-categories such as Bronze, Gold, and Platinum, not to mention confusing descriptors, which are partially necessary since Xeon series caters to various markets and tasks.
Only with the launch of the first Xeon 6 SKUs will one be given the opportunity to judge whether the new naming is indeed simpler, or if it only reflects a top-level change that doesn’t alter anything for actual SKUs.
According to Intel, the first Xeon 6 product will be Sierra Forest, which marks Intel’s first all Efficient-core CPU architecture and is set to be launched this quarter. In fact, some companies like Supermicro are already confirming that Sierra Forest is entering an early sampling program.
Source: Tom’s Hardware