Intel kills off Falcon Shores AI chip, moves to 'rack-scale solution' with Jaguar Shores

Intel has nixxed its upcoming Falcon Shores AI accelerator, shifting its efforts into the next-generation Jaguar Shores as a complete rack-scale solution in its attempt to make a mark on the AI industry.

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Intel co-CEO Michelle Johnston Holthaus has explained that the company has stopped development on Falcon Shores, shifting its focus into its next-gen Jaguar Shores generation. Until now, we were expecting the Falcon Shores XPU on TSMC's newer 3nm process node and CoWoS-R advanced packaging, with a huge 1500W TDP.

Intel told CRN: "Many of you heard me temper expectations on Falcon Shores last month. Based on industry feedback, we have decided to leverage Falcon Shores as an internal test chip".

"More broadly, as I think about our AI opportunity, my focus is on the problems our customers are trying to solve, most notably lower the cost and increase the efficiency of compute. One of the things that we've learned from Gaudi is it's not enough to just deliver the silicon. We need to be able to deliver a complete rack-scale solution, and that's what we're going to be able to be able to do with Jaguar Shores".

• Read more: Intel's next-gen Falcon Shores AI chip: ordered on TSMC 3nm node
• Read more: Intel's next-gen Falcon Shores GPU: up to 1500W TDP, no air-cooling variant
• Read more: Intel Falcon Shores XPU: x86 CPU + Xe GPU on a single socket in 2024+

Intel knows it can't compete in the market, learning (hopefully som very) valuable lessons from its Gaudi AI accelerator, which has been beyond a disappointment. Intel hasn't totally ripped it from the market, but has moved it to being "internal" meaning it will continue to work on it, adapting it to market and computational demands.