Intel's next-gen Xeon 'Clearwater Forest' CPUs rumored with 3D stacking with hybrid bonding

Intel's next-gen Xeon "Clearwater Forest" CPUs will feature up to 288 cores based on the new Darkmont CPU architecture, with no P-Cores in sight with Clearwater Forest, its 288 E-Cores.

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The latest information on Intel's next-gen Clearwater Forest CPUs is that they will feature Foveros Direct advanced packaging technology, with 3D stacking technology allowing Intel to drive the E-Core count up to an incredible 288 cores of processing power.

Intel's latest hybrid bonding technology is codenamed Foveros Direct for 3D stacking of the Clearwater Forest-based Xeon CPUs. This CPU packaging technology features a base time on top of the interposer, that's connected through a high-speed I/O, EMIB, and the cores will be sitting on the highest layer of the chip.

Foveros Direct technology allows for direct copper-to-copper bonding, enabling low-resistance interconnects and around 10-micron bump pitches. Intel has said that its next-generation Foveros Direct technology will blur the boundary between where the wafer ends and where the package begins.

Intel's new Xeon "Clearwater Forest" CPUs are a prime choice to test Foveros Direct technology, with the company expected to deliver huge improvements in IPC and efficiency, rocking 288 E-Cores based on the new Darkmont architecture. Intel wants to take the high-count CPU battle to AMD, which has recently dominated with its high-core count EPYC family of processors.

AMD will have its next-gen Zen 5-based EPYC "Turin" CPU in up to 128 cores, 256 threads based on Zen 5, or up to 192 cores and 384 threads with Zen 5c thrown into the mix. Intel is only ramping up to 288 E-Cores, so the battle isn't won yet. Technology like Foveros Direct will help Intel win some of those fights, and we're excited to see how it all plays out over the next couple of years.