Samsung and TSMC have made several important announcements about the present and future of their semiconductor manufacturing technologies in March. Samsung revealed that it had shipped over 70 thousand wafers processed using its first-generation 10 nm…
One of the more interesting elements of last week’s news was that some of the names of the future Intel Xeon processors, based on the Skylake microarchitecture, were accidentally ‘leaked’ via an official Intel Product Change Notification. In that list, we learned that the processors will have a new naming scheme, and we saw Gold and Platinum processors based on the LGA3647 socket having a wide range of numbers, but no core counts or clock speeds.
Today’s unveiling is minor, but an official approach to the new platform. Due to the way that Intel is expanding its reach from processors to networking to FPGAs and beyond, it has been decided that a new naming scheme needs to be in place. Thus the Xeon E/EP/EX naming regime is being reintegrated into what is now called the ‘Xeon Scalable Processor Family’, of which the first set of products will be based on the Skylake microarchitecture. This is where the ‘SP’ in ‘Skylake-SP’ comes from, as the other abbreviations are now retired.
The core of Intel’s unveiling today revolves around the different processor levels they will be offering, and where the new integrated options will fit in the new stack. In the slide above, Intel lists three integrated options: Omni-Path, Networking, and Accelerators.
Integrated Omni-Path options have already been seen in Xeon Phi based products from the Knights Landing family, which occupy the same LGA3647 socket, so it is perhaps not surprising that it looks like Intel will offer some Skylake-SP Xeons with Omni-Path also integrated.
Integrated Networking (asides from OmniPath) would suggest that Intel is looking towards deeper 1000Base-T (gigabit) options and even perhaps a nod to 10G, although this would most likely be provided by additional options on the chipset rather than on the processor (and stems from system integrator leaks we have already seen.
As for integrated accelerators, here Intel mentions Intel QuickAssist (QAT) and AVX-512. AVX-512 is the next advancement in AVX instructions and we already see them in use with Xeon Phi, and we expect there to be the capabilities in silicon to run AVX-512 natively in Skylake-SP. Intel’s QAT is something we’ve seen in standalone PCIe cards before, so it would seem that Intel is also integrating this into the platform. After speaking with users familiar with QAT, due to what is needed to get QAT running at full speed, it would suggest that QAT will be chipset derived and platform dependent rather than purely on the processor.
On the right hand of this slide, Intel mentions FPGA, Nervana, Xeon Phi and Silicon Photonics. The acquisition of Altera for $16.7 billion in 2015 put FPGA integration firmly on the roadmap for Intel’s Xeon product line, however Intel has not officially stated how these will be provided with the new Xeon-SP platforms. The fact that it isn’t listed under the integrated options suggests that Intel will only offer FPGAs as add-in cards (or add-in processors, like Xeon Phi, for dual socket systems) at this time. Intel is also working on new optimized frameworks for the hardware, particularly math and AI libraries.
So along with the Gold and Platinum processors we saw last week, Intel will also be introducing Bronze and Silver grades as well. The Bronze group is aimed at entry performance, which sounds like the older low core count E5 parts, while the Silver parts seem aimed at lower power and will probably be low base frequency parts. The Xeon Gold family is aimed at accelerators and interconnects, which suggests they will be for multi-GPU or multi-socket platforms, while the Xeon Platinum will be the cream.
Despite this potential correlation, we were told in our briefing, given by Lisa Spelman, VP and GM of the Data Center Group, that the previous E5/E7 naming split due to potential socket configurations goes away and now we should expect to see various CPUs in all segments correlating to a variety of socket configurations. One of the reasons for this is that sometimes a customer could take advantage of an 8-socket variant processor (due to high cache per core, for example), but would never consider it because the customer only needed a two-socket configuration. One of the reasons given for the naming is to alleviate this issue.
It also means that we might see a lot more product SKUs coming to market, each with different configurations, naming, and capabilities depending on the accelerators. Typically Intel produces three dies for each Xeon generation – a low core count (LCC), a medium/high core count (MCC/HCC), and an extreme core count (XCC) version, and we see a variance up and down the stack depending on what dies fit in where: e.g. LCC were for single socket. With the new Scalable Processor Family naming scheme, we were told that Intel is trying to move away from this differentiation and just provide what the customer needs in the right segment. Not so much integration through obfuscation, but I kindly requested that when the official announcements are made, that the differentiations were made clear. Given the Gold/Platinum processor lists last week, it was unclear exactly what the numbering schemes represented, so in order to make the transition, it needs to be crystal clear.
We were told that as this is the first generation of the Xeon-SP naming scheme, the generation is omitted from the name, but future product lines (Kaby Lake-SP) will have a generational marker to denote the difference. This may be in the form of v2/v3, but this isn’t clarified at this time.
Intel isn’t announcing any products today. This is more of an opportunity to take hold of the news that already exists, and perhaps get a step up ahead of the upcoming conference season. We were told to expect a launch in the middle of the year, and were told that Intel is still on track for that.
One of the more interesting elements of last week’s news was that some of the names of the future Intel Xeon processors, based on the Skylake microarchitecture, were accidentally ‘leaked’ via an official Intel Product Change Notification. In that list, we learned that the processors will have a new naming scheme, and we saw Gold and Platinum processors based on the LGA3647 socket having a wide range of numbers, but no core counts or clock speeds.
Today’s unveiling is minor, but an official approach to the new platform. Due to the way that Intel is expanding its reach from processors to networking to FPGAs and beyond, it has been decided that a new naming scheme needs to be in place. Thus the Xeon E/EP/EX naming regime is being reintegrated into what is now called the ‘Xeon Scalable Processor Family’, of which the first set of products will be based on the Skylake microarchitecture. This is where the ‘SP’ in ‘Skylake-SP’ comes from, as the other abbreviations are now retired.
The core of Intel’s unveiling today revolves around the different processor levels they will be offering, and where the new integrated options will fit in the new stack. In the slide above, Intel lists three integrated options: Omni-Path, Networking, and Accelerators.
Integrated Omni-Path options have already been seen in Xeon Phi based products from the Knights Landing family, which occupy the same LGA3647 socket, so it is perhaps not surprising that it looks like Intel will offer some Skylake-SP Xeons with Omni-Path also integrated.
Integrated Networking (asides from OmniPath) would suggest that Intel is looking towards deeper 1000Base-T (gigabit) options and even perhaps a nod to 10G, although this would most likely be provided by additional options on the chipset rather than on the processor (and stems from system integrator leaks we have already seen.
As for integrated accelerators, here Intel mentions Intel QuickAssist (QAT) and AVX-512. AVX-512 is the next advancement in AVX instructions and we already see them in use with Xeon Phi, and we expect there to be the capabilities in silicon to run AVX-512 natively in Skylake-SP. Intel’s QAT is something we’ve seen in standalone PCIe cards before, so it would seem that Intel is also integrating this into the platform. After speaking with users familiar with QAT, due to what is needed to get QAT running at full speed, it would suggest that QAT will be chipset derived and platform dependent rather than purely on the processor.
On the right hand of this slide, Intel mentions FPGA, Nervana, Xeon Phi and Silicon Photonics. The acquisition of Altera for $16.7 billion in 2015 put FPGA integration firmly on the roadmap for Intel’s Xeon product line, however Intel has not officially stated how these will be provided with the new Xeon-SP platforms. The fact that it isn’t listed under the integrated options suggests that Intel will only offer FPGAs as add-in cards (or add-in processors, like Xeon Phi, for dual socket systems) at this time. Intel is also working on new optimized frameworks for the hardware, particularly math and AI libraries.
So along with the Gold and Platinum processors we saw last week, Intel will also be introducing Bronze and Silver grades as well. The Bronze group is aimed at entry performance, which sounds like the older low core count E5 parts, while the Silver parts seem aimed at lower power and will probably be low base frequency parts. The Xeon Gold family is aimed at accelerators and interconnects, which suggests they will be for multi-GPU or multi-socket platforms, while the Xeon Platinum will be the cream.
Despite this potential correlation, we were told in our briefing, given by Lisa Spelman, VP and GM of the Data Center Group, that the previous E5/E7 naming split due to potential socket configurations goes away and now we should expect to see various CPUs in all segments correlating to a variety of socket configurations. One of the reasons for this is that sometimes a customer could take advantage of an 8-socket variant processor (due to high cache per core, for example), but would never consider it because the customer only needed a two-socket configuration. One of the reasons given for the naming is to alleviate this issue.
It also means that we might see a lot more product SKUs coming to market, each with different configurations, naming, and capabilities depending on the accelerators. Typically Intel produces three dies for each Xeon generation – a low core count (LCC), a medium/high core count (MCC/HCC), and an extreme core count (XCC) version, and we see a variance up and down the stack depending on what dies fit in where: e.g. LCC were for single socket. With the new Scalable Processor Family naming scheme, we were told that Intel is trying to move away from this differentiation and just provide what the customer needs in the right segment. Not so much integration through obfuscation, but I kindly requested that when the official announcements are made, that the differentiations were made clear. Given the Gold/Platinum processor lists last week, it was unclear exactly what the numbering schemes represented, so in order to make the transition, it needs to be crystal clear.
We were told that as this is the first generation of the Xeon-SP naming scheme, the generation is omitted from the name, but future product lines (Kaby Lake-SP) will have a generational marker to denote the difference. This may be in the form of v2/v3, but this isn’t clarified at this time.
Intel isn’t announcing any products today. This is more of an opportunity to take hold of the news that already exists, and perhaps get a step up ahead of the upcoming conference season. We were told to expect a launch in the middle of the year, and were told that Intel is still on track for that.
AMD’s Q1 earnings are in, capping off a very important quarter for the company. For the first quarter of the year, AMD booked $984 million in revenue, a sizable 18% jump over Q1 last year. This revenue increase was enough to narrow the company’s losses, but not to wipe them out entirely. On a GAAP basis the company lost $73M for the quarter, leading to an overall loss of $0.08 per share. Q1 is also a relatively weak quarter for technology companies in general, and AMD is no exception, with revenue down and losses up slightly compared to their revenue-strong fourth quarter of 2016.
March of course saw the launch of their first CPUs based on the Zen architecture, kicking off AMD’s big comeback into the CPU space that has long been their core competency and biggest breadwinner. The Ryzen 7 launch in turn isn’t meant to turn AMD’s fortunes around overnight – especially when it was only on retail shelves for one month of the quarter – but it’s the start of something bigger for AMD. The impending launch of Naples – which AMD has reiterated is on track for this quarter – will be the second part of this turnaround.
| AMD Q1 2017 Financial Results (GAAP) | |||||
| Q1’2017 | Q4’2016 | Q1’2016 | |||
| Revenue | $948M | $1110M | $832M | ||
| Gross Margin | 34% | 32% | 32% | ||
| Operating Income | -$29M | -$3M | -$68M | ||
| Net Income | -$73M | -$51M | -$109M | ||
| Earnings Per Share | -$0.08 | -$0.06 | -$0.14 | ||
One bit of good news here is that AMD’s gross margin is up, and is now at 34%. AMD has structured their business to be able to operate with margins in the 30% range, but 35% has long been considered the soft floor for profitability, which means AMD is getting close to that. AMD’s cash flow is a bit less rosy though; the company has $943M in cash and short-term investments as of the end of Q1’17, versus $1.26B in the prior quarter. On an overall basis, AMD’s asset value is largely unchanged, with the difference in cash being offset by an increase in the company’s inventory and accounts receivable.
AMD’s non-GAAP results, which the company reports as a means to better show the state of the core business, show similar results. Non-GAAP results show a smaller loss overall, but the company is still in the red on operating income and net income. There is no single large factor this time around hurting GAAP results – AMD isn’t taking any large write-offs or the like – but rather it’s a number of smaller items, including the cost of employee stock-based compensation and charges related to AMD’s $1.41B in long-term debt.
| AMD Q1 2017 Financial Results (Non-GAAP) | |||||
| Q1’2017 | Q4’2016 | Q1’2016 | |||
| Revenue | $984 | $1110M | $832M | ||
| Gross Margin | 34% | 32% | 32% | ||
| Operating Income | -$6M | $26M | -$55M | ||
| Net Income | -$38M | -$8M | -$96M | ||
| Earnings Per Share | -$0.04 | -$0.01 | -$0.12 | ||
Breaking results down by segments, AMD’s situation in Q1’17 was fairly similar to past quarters. The Computing and Graphics segment is still the largest part of AMD’s two divisions, and outside of overall stock-based compensation, is still the division losing AMD money. Overall the Computing division booked $593M in revenue for the quarter, which is up 29% from Q1’16 and in fact is barely down from the always-strong Q4. The operating loss for the quarter was $15M, down significantly from Q1’16’s $70M loss, and even still better than Q4’16’s $21M loss.
The biggest factor here, of course, is Ryzen. With its high prices compared to AMD’s past desktop processors, it has been a big part in increasing AMD’s overall average selling price both on a quarterly and yearly basis. Similarly, GPU ASPs were up as well.
| AMD Q1 2017 Computing and Graphics | |||||
| Q1’2017 | Q4’2016 | Q1’2016 | |||
| Revenue | $593M | $600M | $460M | ||
| Operating Income | -$15M | -$21M | -$70M | ||
Meanwhile AMD’s Enterprise, Embedded, and Semi-Custom segment continued to stay in the black for the quarter, but revenue did drop from the previous quarter as holiday console sales tapered off. Revenue for the quarter was $391M, up slightly from the $372M of Q1’16, while the operating income was $9M, versus last year’s $16M. Otherwise the All Other segment booked a $23M loss due to the aforementioned stock-based compensation.
| AMD Q1 2017 Enterprise, Embedded, and Semi-Custom | |||||
| Q1’2017 | Q4’2016 | Q1’2016 | |||
| Revenue | $391M | $506M | $372M | ||
| Operating Income | $9M | $47M | $16M | ||
Looking towards the future, AMD a 17% revenue increase for Q2, while gross margins are expected to dip slightly to 33%. Besides enjoying a full quarter of Ryzen sales, AMD has once again confirmed that they will be launching both the Naples server CPU and the Vega GPU architecture in this quarter. Both are high-end, high-profit products that should significantly help AMD’s bottom line if they perform as expected. Though even with the Q2 launch, AMD won’t enjoy the full benefits of those launches until Q3 when they have further ramped up and collect revenue for those products over the whole quarter.
AMD’s Q1 earnings are in, capping off a very important quarter for the company. For the first quarter of the year, AMD booked $984 million in revenue, a sizable 18% jump over Q1 last year. This revenue increase was enough to narrow the company’s losses, but not to wipe them out entirely. On a GAAP basis the company lost $73M for the quarter, leading to an overall loss of $0.08 per share. Q1 is also a relatively weak quarter for technology companies in general, and AMD is no exception, with revenue down and losses up slightly compared to their revenue-strong fourth quarter of 2016.
March of course saw the launch of their first CPUs based on the Zen architecture, kicking off AMD’s big comeback into the CPU space that has long been their core competency and biggest breadwinner. The Ryzen 7 launch in turn isn’t meant to turn AMD’s fortunes around overnight – especially when it was only on retail shelves for one month of the quarter – but it’s the start of something bigger for AMD. The impending launch of Naples – which AMD has reiterated is on track for this quarter – will be the second part of this turnaround.
| AMD Q1 2017 Financial Results (GAAP) | |||||
| Q1’2017 | Q4’2016 | Q1’2016 | |||
| Revenue | $948M | $1110M | $832M | ||
| Gross Margin | 34% | 32% | 32% | ||
| Operating Income | -$29M | -$3M | -$68M | ||
| Net Income | -$73M | -$51M | -$109M | ||
| Earnings Per Share | -$0.08 | -$0.06 | -$0.14 | ||
One bit of good news here is that AMD’s gross margin is up, and is now at 34%. AMD has structured their business to be able to operate with margins in the 30% range, but 35% has long been considered the soft floor for profitability, which means AMD is getting close to that. AMD’s cash flow is a bit less rosy though; the company has $943M in cash and short-term investments as of the end of Q1’17, versus $1.26B in the prior quarter. On an overall basis, AMD’s asset value is largely unchanged, with the difference in cash being offset by an increase in the company’s inventory and accounts receivable.
AMD’s non-GAAP results, which the company reports as a means to better show the state of the core business, show similar results. Non-GAAP results show a smaller loss overall, but the company is still in the red on operating income and net income. There is no single large factor this time around hurting GAAP results – AMD isn’t taking any large write-offs or the like – but rather it’s a number of smaller items, including the cost of employee stock-based compensation and charges related to AMD’s $1.41B in long-term debt.
| AMD Q1 2017 Financial Results (Non-GAAP) | |||||
| Q1’2017 | Q4’2016 | Q1’2016 | |||
| Revenue | $984 | $1110M | $832M | ||
| Gross Margin | 34% | 32% | 32% | ||
| Operating Income | -$6M | $26M | -$55M | ||
| Net Income | -$38M | -$8M | -$96M | ||
| Earnings Per Share | -$0.04 | -$0.01 | -$0.12 | ||
Breaking results down by segments, AMD’s situation in Q1’17 was fairly similar to past quarters. The Computing and Graphics segment is still the largest part of AMD’s two divisions, and outside of overall stock-based compensation, is still the division losing AMD money. Overall the Computing division booked $593M in revenue for the quarter, which is up 29% from Q1’16 and in fact is barely down from the always-strong Q4. The operating loss for the quarter was $15M, down significantly from Q1’16’s $70M loss, and even still better than Q4’16’s $21M loss.
The biggest factor here, of course, is Ryzen. With its high prices compared to AMD’s past desktop processors, it has been a big part in increasing AMD’s overall average selling price both on a quarterly and yearly basis. Similarly, GPU ASPs were up as well.
| AMD Q1 2017 Computing and Graphics | |||||
| Q1’2017 | Q4’2016 | Q1’2016 | |||
| Revenue | $593M | $600M | $460M | ||
| Operating Income | -$15M | -$21M | -$70M | ||
Meanwhile AMD’s Enterprise, Embedded, and Semi-Custom segment continued to stay in the black for the quarter, but revenue did drop from the previous quarter as holiday console sales tapered off. Revenue for the quarter was $391M, up slightly from the $372M of Q1’16, while the operating income was $9M, versus last year’s $16M. Otherwise the All Other segment booked a $23M loss due to the aforementioned stock-based compensation.
| AMD Q1 2017 Enterprise, Embedded, and Semi-Custom | |||||
| Q1’2017 | Q4’2016 | Q1’2016 | |||
| Revenue | $391M | $506M | $372M | ||
| Operating Income | $9M | $47M | $16M | ||
Looking towards the future, AMD a 17% revenue increase for Q2, while gross margins are expected to dip slightly to 33%. Besides enjoying a full quarter of Ryzen sales, AMD has once again confirmed that they will be launching both the Naples server CPU and the Vega GPU architecture in this quarter. Both are high-end, high-profit products that should significantly help AMD’s bottom line if they perform as expected. Though even with the Q2 launch, AMD won’t enjoy the full benefits of those launches until Q3 when they have further ramped up and collect revenue for those products over the whole quarter.
