Intel grabbed AMD a big hit to lead GPU development

During the Architecture Day 2021, Intel unveiled the roadmap of Arc GPUs based on the Xe HPG architecture dedicated to the client world. Toccher at “Battlemage” (Xe2 HPG) pick up the baton of the “Alchemist” solutions expected in Q1 2022 (mobile, then desktop in Q2), after which it will be the turn of Xe3 HPG “Celestial” and, finally, “Druid” based on an architecture described generically “Xe Next”.

Despite the roadmap already outlined (at least broadly), the Santa Clara house continues to strengthen its division of GPUs fishing from the ranks of the competition. Intel confirmed al sieve CRN to have GPU designer Vineet Goel snatched from AMD (LinkedIn).

The new “Vice President and General Manager, GPU Architecture & IP Engineering“, part of the Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics Group division created in June, joined Intel in late September and has a direct line to Raja Koduri, the one who – always coming from AMD – is shaping Intel’s effort in the world of dedicated GPUs.

Vineet Goel, according to a company spokesperson, I will lead a team of designers and engineers who will be responsible for defining and verifying the roadmap of Xe architectures, therefore basically to fix the various aspects that make up a GPU in terms of functionality, characteristics, performance and consumption.

As mentioned, Goel comes from AMD where he has spent a little over the past 5 years in very similar jobs, dealing with graphic architectures of different caliber, from low-power solutions to the most powerful accelerators. His team has also worked on integrated GPUs in AMD APUs and it is no coincidence that among the latest posts on LinkedIn there is one in which Goel praises the presence of an AMD GPU on the Steam Deck, Valve’s portable “console-PC”. Prior to AMD, the engineer was a member of Qualcomm where he directed the development of Adreno graphic architectures.

According to CRN, Goel has a PhD in computer science from the University of Central Florida, a Masters in Systems Engineering and Automation from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore and an MBA from Rollins College in Florida. He has signed 57 patents – a further nine are under evaluation – and has published various contents, including articles and technical documents, related to graphics.

For Intel it is undoubtedly a very important purchase, which renews the ambitions in the sector of GPUs and accelerators for AI. The company faces a very complex challenge, namely that of breaking the eggs in the basket a NVIDIA. Recently CEO Pat Gelsinger said he was very confident about it, so much so that Intel will begin to “be able to really put pressure on NVIDIA for the first time.”

Intel’s strategy is not based only on Xe HPG, the architecture with which it intends to compete with GeForce GPUs, but also on Ponte Vecchio, the Xe HPC project for accelerators for supercomputers.