Intel boss Pat Gelsinger calls Arm's PC threat "insignificant"

[midian182]

In brief: Claims that the x86 architecture could be under threat from Arm-based processors have been dismissed by Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger. His statements follow reports that Nvidia and AMD are planning to release Arm-based CPUs for consumers, while Qualcomm has just unveiled its next-gen Arm SoC that it says can beat Intel and Apple in some applications and efficiency.

Speaking during Intel's third-quarter earnings call on Thursday, Gelsinger said the company takes all competition seriously, but when it comes to Arm and Windows client alternatives, "generally they've been relegated to pretty insignificant roles in the PC business."

"I think history is our guide here. We don't see these as potentially being all that significant overall," the CEO added.

However, while Gelsinger was dismissive of Arm's threat, he did say alternative architectures were a great opportunity for Intel's foundry business, which is happy to work with companies building chips based on Arm designs.

Back in April, the two former rivals joined forces in an agreement that will make it easier for Arm licensees to have Intel manufacture low-power SoCs using Team Blue's 18A process, which is expected to be manufacturing-ready in the second half of 2024.

Reports from earlier this week revealed that Nvidia, which already dominates the AI, HPC, and consumer graphics card industries, is expanding its portfolio to include Arm-based processors for client Windows PCs. AMD is also said to be planning to make consumer processors based on Arm's designs, with both companies' new chips set to arrive in 2025.

The report added that Microsoft is encouraging others to enter the Arm-based systems market once the current exclusivity deal it has with Qualcomm ends next year. Gelsinger might not be concerned, but the news resulted in Intel's share price falling 5%.

It's not just Nvidia and AMD hoping to usher in an Arm-based PC revolution. This week also saw Qualcomm launch its Snapdragon X Elite SoC for PCs. Qualcomm is combining 12 CPU cores running at 3.8 GHz (two can boost up to 4.3 GHz) and building the chip on a 4nm process.

Qualcomm's numbers claim that its SoC can beat Intel's Core i9-13980HX in single-threaded performance or match its multi-threaded performance while using 70% less power.

According to analyst research, Arm's PC market share will grow from its current 14% to 25% by 2027.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/100643-intel-boss-pat-gelsinger-calls-arm-pc-threat.html

 

[Manoa]

I don't see what the fus is about, a slightly faster ARM chip than a x86 ? why is that a big deal ? there are already light years faster chips (POWER10?) and they don't get to be advertised like this right ? so what the fus is about ? waike me up when a ARM chip does laps around x86, I suppose that is when you could say that throwing 30 years of x86 backward compatibility is worth it right ? but isn't POWER10 worth it already today ? ... some things to think about

 

[Watzupken]

ARM based custom SOCs are already hitting Intel hard when it comes to data center sales. So it is not possible that Intel is not worried.

 

[ilovelinux]

He's a wank3r who will let Intel sink further in my humble opinion.

 

[WhiteLeaff]

It's the first intelligent thing I've seen him say. Congratulations.

 

[takaozo]

30 later Intel is still relevant because of Microsoft and the other way around and both are still here because the entreprise sector is locked into this. For now...

 

[Theinsanegamer]

This will age well. Just like milk.

I don't see what the fus is about, a slightly faster ARM chip than a x86 ? why is that a big deal ? there are already light years faster chips (POWER10?) and they don't get to be advertised like this right ? so what the fus is about ? waike me up when a ARM chip does laps around x86, I suppose that is when you could say that throwing 30 years of x86 backward compatibility is worth it right ? but isn't POWER10 worth it already today ? ... some things to think about

ARM offers far higher efficiency then x86 chips do, this has already been demonstrated. It's also been demonstrated that ARM can run x86 apps via MS's translator.

so if an ARM chip comes out that can actually perform on the level of a 7840u or a mobile H series, that's a major threat to intel's business model, as intel does not control ARM like it does x86.

some things to think about

 

[GoldenGoat]

Arm is nice for laptops if you don't need any older applications that only are available on Intel. I don't expect it to gain a lot of traction with gamers or offices. Apple's powerful PC's cost like $4000. I don't see windows users paying that for hardware to get a souped up Arm that can compete with top Intel CPUs. Arm is great for laptop battery life though. Arm hasn't even really gained any traction with Linux users, so I really don't see Windows users wanting to adopt it. It worked for Apple because of Rosetta 2 and also because they don't offer an Intel option. Microsoft could make it happen like Apple did, but I don't expect that at all.

 

[wiyosaya]

Because hubris has always been successful as a corporate strategy.

 

[cristianm]

Cycle 1 Big IRON is the real thing. PC based on x86 demand explodes and it males Intel a lot of money. With that money Intel is able to expand the PC processors into Server and even HPC. -> x86 rules the world
Cycle 2 x86 is the real thing. ARM demand explodes and it makes a lot of money for company X. With that money company X is able to expand the ARM processors into PC space and at some point even Servers and HPC. -> ARM rules the world.
Cycle 3 .. to be continued

 

[yRaz]

This will age well. Just like milk.

but cheese is delicious

ARM offers far higher efficiency then x86 chips do, this has already been demonstrated. It's also been demonstrated that ARM can run x86 apps via MS's translator.

so if an ARM chip comes out that can actually perform on the level of a 7840u or a mobile H series, that's a major threat to intel's business model, as intel does not control ARM like it does x86.

some things to think about

So I'm going to bring this up as often as I can because I strongly believe this. We need to distance ourselves from companies like Microsoft and Apple having a stranglehold on the OS market. Linux has come a long way but it is still a fraction among desktop PCs. Maybe MS's long game is to make ARM big enough to slow the migration to Linux.

I'm mostly migrated to Linux. I wish it was set and forget and if you want a basic OS that browses the internet and has a word processor then Linux is fine. But one thing I did have to do is to get ESO mods to work properly is actually write my own program to replace what a mod did on windows but isn't compatible with Linux. The issue isn't as big as it was even just 5 years ago, but Linux is not "plug and play" just yet.

MS has pissed a lot of people off with windows 10 and 11, holding onto a well developed X86 to ARM translator could end up being a pretty big deal. Development in the opensource community is slow enough as it is with one architecture, development would become a lot more difficult if they started having to support 2 architectures.

 

[maxxcool7421]

I don't see what the fus is about, a slightly faster ARM chip than a x86 ? why is that a big deal ? there are already light years faster chips (POWER10?) and they don't get to be advertised like this right ? so what the fus is about ? waike me up when a ARM chip does laps around x86, I suppose that is when you could say that throwing 30 years of x86 backward compatibility is worth it right ? but isn't POWER10 worth it already today ? ... some things to think about

hahahaha .. get many checks from intel do ya ?

 

[maxxcool7421]

Arm is nice for laptops if you don't need any older applications that only are available on Intel. I don't expect it to gain a lot of traction with gamers or offices. Apple's powerful PC's cost like $4000. I don't see windows users paying that for hardware to get a souped up Arm that can compete with top Intel CPUs. Arm is great for laptop battery life though. Arm hasn't even really gained any traction with Linux users, so I really don't see Windows users wanting to adopt it. It worked for Apple because of Rosetta 2 and also because they don't offer an Intel option. Microsoft could make it happen like Apple did, but I don't expect that at all.

emulation is good enough now .. Apples ARM cores can run windows VMs and APP virt juuuuuuust fine

 

[Theinsanegamer]

emulation is good enough now .. Apples ARM cores can run windows VMs and APP virt juuuuuuust fine

That's apple though. On windows the emulation is FAR from good enough, anything it tries to run goes about as well as molasses in antartica. And since apple doesnt support vulkan, that's a major roadblock for many.

but cheese is delicious

I like cheese

So I'm going to bring this up as often as I can because I strongly believe this. We need to distance ourselves from companies like Microsoft and Apple having a stranglehold on the OS market. Linux has come a long way but it is still a fraction among desktop PCs. Maybe MS's long game is to make ARM big enough to slow the migration to Linux.

I'm mostly migrated to Linux. I wish it was set and forget and if you want a basic OS that browses the internet and has a word processor then Linux is fine. But one thing I did have to do is to get ESO mods to work properly is actually write my own program to replace what a mod did on windows but isn't compatible with Linux. The issue isn't as big as it was even just 5 years ago, but Linux is not "plug and play" just yet.

MS has pissed a lot of people off with windows 10 and 11, holding onto a well developed X86 to ARM translator could end up being a pretty big deal. Development in the opensource community is slow enough as it is with one architecture, development would become a lot more difficult if they started having to support 2 architectures.

Your bigger issue will be actually getting linux onto these ARM boxes. The lenovo snapdragon x13 is a MASSIVE biatch to get linux onto. UEFI has already done a good enough job screwing with linux installs. Going ARM would slow linux down even more.

I think the reason MS isnt jumping on ARM is simple: writing a translator is actually really hard, and MS doesnt have the skilled people who used to write stuff like that. MS today can barely patch windows without breaking something. The general masses will never move out of the duopoly, unless they adopt chromeOS or something. Google, Apple, and MS have a shocking amount of control over both OSes and the internet, the general attestation they are proposing should scare everyone. I dont see how you will ever fix it though, general users cant understand anything remotely technical.

 

[wiyosaya]

UEFI has already done a good enough job screwing with linux installs.

Try openSuSE. Installs UEFI no problem and even boots with Secure Boot. At least the LEAP variant does, but I would not be surprised if the other variants of openSuSE, including openSuSE Enterprise, do also.

 

[yRaz]

I dont see how you will ever fix it though, general users cant understand anything remotely technical.

I've seen this as a problem for a long time. I know teenagers who have no concept of what wifi is, why their devices work the way they do. On one end of things it's amazing we've reached the point that things just work without us having to think about them. However, there was a lot to be gainedby having to think about things when you used them. I know people who I considered computer illiterate who know more about computers than Zoomers and Gen Alpha.

In the same way we are seeing a steep dropoff in skilled tradesmen I think within the next 20 years we are going to see the same steep dropoff of people who are skilled in hardware design and programing.

At first being a nerd was uncool, then it became cool, then it because a career path and now I feel like we're seeing a drop off of people interested in going into IT. I find that really unfortunate because I was talking with my step Dad a few months ago cars as a hobby is going away and how tinkering with computers is becoming the new "car guy" hobby. He's 87 and said "maybe it's time I get a computer, It's getting so hard to find cars to work on." Keep in mind, he likes to restore trucks from the 60's-80's as a hobby but he just can't get them anymore.

I had no idea how to respond to him, but I find it really unfortunate that tinkering with PCs on a fundamental level is something people are becoming disinterested in. My biggest problem with that is I don't see it being replaced with anything. I guess the big thing now is "tinkering" with social media. It's a strange world we're living in

 

[Jack77]

Because hubris has always been successful as a corporate strategy.

He must say this right now to prevent worrying shareholders. Especially as Intel is nowhere regarding ARM chip development (and have presented other plans for an updated x86).

He will sing another tune if they both have an offering and ARM is gaining further traction. Then it will 'gracefully complement' x86.

 

[waclark]

I don't see what the fus is about, a slightly faster ARM chip than a x86 ? why is that a big deal ? there are already light years faster chips (POWER10?) and they don't get to be advertised like this right ? so what the fus is about ? waike me up when a ARM chip does laps around x86, I suppose that is when you could say that throwing 30 years of x86 backward compatibility is worth it right ? but isn't POWER10 worth it already today ? ... some things to think about

You truly missed the point. ARM processors that are almost as fast as X86 but at a big power savings. The Apple Mx processors have shown great efficiency compared to their CISC counterparts. Since more people are using mobile devices for "computing" power efficiency will be very important.

 

[waclark]

I've seen this as a problem for a long time. I know teenagers who have no concept of what wifi is, why their devices work the way they do. On one end of things it's amazing we've reached the point that things just work without us having to think about them. However, there was a lot to be gainedby having to think about things when you used them. I know people who I considered computer illiterate who know more about computers than Zoomers and Gen Alpha.

In the same way we are seeing a steep dropoff in skilled tradesmen I think within the next 20 years we are going to see the same steep dropoff of people who are skilled in hardware design and programing.

At first being a nerd was uncool, then it became cool, then it because a career path and now I feel like we're seeing a drop off of people interested in going into IT. I find that really unfortunate because I was talking with my step Dad a few months ago cars as a hobby is going away and how tinkering with computers is becoming the new "car guy" hobby. He's 87 and said "maybe it's time I get a computer, It's getting so hard to find cars to work on." Keep in mind, he likes to restore trucks from the 60's-80's as a hobby but he just can't get them anymore.

I had no idea how to respond to him, but I find it really unfortunate that tinkering with PCs on a fundamental level is something people are becoming disinterested in. My biggest problem with that is I don't see it being replaced with anything. I guess the big thing now is "tinkering" with social media. It's a strange world we're living in

One way to look at it is this. In the beginning, computers had to be tinkered with because there was lack of standardization, prices were high for basic models and there weren't very many repair shops around. I would compare this to appliances from the 40s and 50s. People used to work on stuff because it was far cheaper to repair than replace. People started learning about building PCs, mostly because buying a pre-built gaming rig was expensive.

Now people are treating computers like appliances. When was the last time you tinkered with your stove, or microwave oven? While you can actually repair appliances pretty easy today, almost no one does so. With so many people now getting laptops instead of big desktops, it's harder to do repairs outside of drives and RAM.

I get that many people don't know how Wifi works, but there are many people that don't know how electricity works either, but they know enough to stick a plug into a wall outlet. I think that's the evolution of these types of products. We don't want to know how they work; we just want them to work.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Love this guy. He's got something in his back pocket. Watch.

 

[redgarl]

This will age well. Just like milk.
ARM offers far higher efficiency then x86 chips do, this has already been demonstrated. It's also been demonstrated that ARM can run x86 apps via MS's translator.

so if an ARM chip comes out that can actually perform on the level of a 7840u or a mobile H series, that's a major threat to intel's business model, as intel does not control ARM like it does x86.

some things to think about

The latest AMD mobile chips shown better efficiency than many ARM mobile chips...

some things to think about...

 

[Beerfloat]

This is what an Intel CEO needs to say. It doesn't mean anything. Keep your panties dry.

And ARM coming for your PC and server has been the Next Big Thing for going on 10 years now.

 

[brzeczyszczykiew]

Another one to Famous Last Words series?

 

[hash70]

Arm is the future,intels use way to much power

 

[HardReset]

This will age well. Just like milk.
ARM offers far higher efficiency then x86 chips do, this has already been demonstrated. It's also been demonstrated that ARM can run x86 apps via MS's translator.

so if an ARM chip comes out that can actually perform on the level of a 7840u or a mobile H series, that's a major threat to intel's business model, as intel does not control ARM like it does x86.

some things to think about

You truly missed the point. ARM processors that are almost as fast as X86 but at a big power savings. The Apple Mx processors have shown great efficiency compared to their CISC counterparts. Since more people are using mobile devices for "computing" power efficiency will be very important.

Problem here is: about only thing ARM architecture saves power vs x86 is translating CISC instructions to micro ops that CPU processes internally and then translating them back to CISC instructions. ARM CPU does not need to do that. However CPU logic doing that use very little power. We can safely say there is nothing that makes ARM more efficient than x86.

ARM cores are generally more efficient because they are designed for low clock speeds whereas x86 cores are usually designed to be used on high power And low power CPUs and anything between. It's much easier to design low power CPU core that only need to reach 3-4 GHz rather than 6 GHz.

Therefore x86 CPU core designed from scratch for low power should have around same efficiency than similar ARM core has.