Intel and AMD, traditional rivals in the semiconductor industry, are joining forces to improve the x86 chip architecture, with a particular focus on the instruction set. The two companies are establishing a working group with industry partners to achieve this goal.
Intel and AMD jointly announced the x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group, essentially a consortium or ecosystem comprising multiple parties with a vested interest in the x86 chip architecture. Other parties within the consortium include Broadcom, Dell Technologies, Google, HPE, Lenovo, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM’s RedHat. Linux founder Linus Torvalds and Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, are also participating in the project.
The consortium’s primary objective is to enhance the x86 instruction set architecture. A new instruction set aims to ensure compatibility between the traditional x86 architecture from 1978, predominantly used by Intel, and the modified x86-64 variant developed by AMD.
Consistency
The group seeks to establish greater consistency between these two x86 variants, eliminating current discrepancies between the chip architecture versions. The existing disparities between x86 and x64 influence companies’ purchasing decisions when investing in new chips and processors.
For instance, Intel’s x86 architecture currently features an additional set of instructions called Advanced Matrix Extensions. These instructions help CPUs run LLMs faster than the traditional instructions in the x86 architecture. However, these specific instructions are incompatible with AMD’s x86-64-based CPUs, meaning applications utilizing this instruction set cannot leverage AMD hardware technology without being rewritten.
The more features shared between both x86 versions, the easier it becomes for developers to migrate applications between the two. Through the x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group, both chip developers aim to gather technical feedback from the industry to advance the standardization process. Given that x86 processors are primarily intended for desktops/laptops and servers, these areas will be the initial focus.
Tip! Intel Core Ultra 200S: enigmatic chips bring NPU to desktop
More opportunities
The standardization efforts for x86 will also extend to other applications and device types, including Internet-connected devices such as smartphones, according to the consortium. This move suggests that the x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group may be positioning the x86 architecture as a potential competitor to the Arm architecture, which is widely used in these devices.
AMD has indicated that the new improved x86 instruction set is still in development, with initial results not expected until late next year or beyond.
Also read: Avalanche of new AMD products: Epyc, Instinct, Ryzen and more