Does Intel Have a 10-Core Xeon Processor in the Works?

Intel Corp. has apparently tipped its hand, revealing an upcoming processor design in a session entry to a program guide for an upcoming semiconductor conference. Earlier this week, the Hot Chips conference sent out its initial schedule of speakers. The annual event is held every August on the campus of Stanford University, and an Intel entry in the program proved a bit more revealing than perhaps it should have been.

On day two of the Hot Chips program is an entry entitled "Westmere-EX: A 20-Thread Server CPU," attributed to two Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) engineers. For its part, Intel spokespeople said they will not comment on rumor and speculation, even if it is their own entry into a well-respected semiconductor conference. Some deductive reasoning can be applied, however.

Intel processors use Hyper-Threading, a technology that allows for the execution of two threads per core. That would mean this Westmere-EX processor is a 10-core chip.

Intel's public roadmaps have never mentioned a "Westmere-EX." The last -EX product was the Xeon 7500, codenamed Nehalem-EX.

The 7500 is an eight-core chip with Hyper-Threading, making it a 16-thread chip. It's also based on the older Nehalem architecture and 45-nanometer manufacturing process. Westmere is the 32nm shrink of the Nehalem architecture, with some new features like on-die encryption.

So, it could be that Intel shrunk the Nehalem-EX from 45nm to 32nm, had a little more room on the chip, and added two more cores. This would bring the top end of Intel's Xeon line into technological parity with the rest of its processors.

That sure seems to make sense to Jim McGregor, chief technology analyst with In-Stat.

"Their goal was to have all their products on the lead process generation [the 32nm manufacturing design], so it's something they want to do. The server processors have always been about a generation behind," he told InternetNews.com.

Normally cores go up in larger increments, like two to four or four to eight, but in this situation, McGregor feels a gain of two cores makes sense. "Back when we were going from two to four cores, it was a real challenge as to how you lay it out, with all the core interconnects and such. Now, it really doesn't matter. You lay these things out like a tile," he said.

"Once we got to eight cores, the likelihood it would double each time goes down," he continued. "This is probably a mid-life kicker with a die shrink, and since they have a little extra space, they decide 'Let's put a few more cores on.'"

Andy Patrizio is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals.