AMD plans major steps in server chip efficiency

Chip designer Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has successfully mounted a challenge to Intel’s dominance in data center processors by focusing on energy-efficient server chips. AMD plans to further expand its presence in data centers by bringing more advanced processors and accelerators, as described during its recent Financial Analyst Day in June 2022. AMD’s promise to IT buyers and data center managers is to deliver generational leaps in compute performance density with energy efficiency gains to match.

The key to AMD’s recent success in supplying data centers is its highly modular approach to server processors. Instead of designing and manufacturing multiple large monolithic chips, the company has instead taken multichip technology several steps further. Using many smaller chips — or chiplets in AMD parlance — has enabled AMD to both lower its design effort (it has only a fraction of the engineering resources of Intel’s design teams) and improve manufacturability, particularly on bleeding-edge chip fabrication technologies.