New Intel Xeon 6 CPUs unveiled; one powers rival Nvidia’s DGX B300

He added that his read is that “Intel recognizes that Nvidia is far and away the leader in the market for AI GPUs and is seeking to hitch itself to that wagon.”

Roberts said, “basically, Intel, which has struggled tremendously and has turned over its CEO amidst a stock slide, needs to refocus to where it thinks it can win. That’s not competing directly with Nvidia but trying to use this partnership to re-secure its foothold in the data center and squeeze out rivals like AMD for the data center x86 market. In other words, I see this announcement as confirmation that Intel is looking to regroup, and pick fights it thinks it can win. “

He also predicted, “we can expect competition to heat up in this space as Intel takes on AMD’s Epyc lineup in a push to simplify and get back to basics.”

Matt Kimball, vice president and principal analyst, who focuses on datacenter compute and storage at Moor Insights & Strategy, had a much different view about the announcement.

The selection of the Intel sixth generation Xeon CPU, the 6776P, to support Nvidia’s DGX B300 is, he said, “important, as it validates Intel as a strong choice for the AI market. In the big picture, this isn’t about volumes or revenue, rather it’s about validating a strategy Intel has had for the last couple of generations — delivering accelerated performance across critical workloads.” 

Kimball said that, In particular, there are a “couple things that I would think helped make Xeon the chosen CPU.”