Intel and AMD announced the creation of the x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group, which will now preside over the development of the architecture and its consistency. A surprise announcement, but which brings together many big names in IT. Although the initiative is considered particularly positive, the new group has the air of a defense committee against Arm architecture.
Intel and AMD have a growing problem. We don’t necessarily talk about the setbacks of Intel, whose finances are in bad shape, to the point that others are knocking on its door with takeover proposals. We are talking about the Arm architecture and its growing presence in computer products on the market.
For decades, the x86 architecture reigned supreme on computers of all sizes, up to supercomputers. The Arm architecture was confined to the market of mobile devices and connected objects. But she gained momentum. To only talk about recent years, Apple has taken the plunge with its M chips, inherited from the A series present in the iPhone and iPad for a long time. More recently, we have seen Microsoft launch Surface products with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X and, more generally, the Copilot+ name.
The continued increase in performance and greater energy efficiency are gradually creating enthusiasm. The x86 chips retain enormous compatibility with the existing fleet. They also power the most powerful computers and allow the installation of dedicated GPUs, to the delight of gamers.
To better manage the future of architecture, Intel and AMD are joining forces to create the x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group.
The group’s main objectives
« x86 is the de facto standard. It’s a strong ecosystem, but one that Intel and AMD have developed together in some way, but at a distance. This has caused some inefficiencies and drifts in certain parts of the architecture over time “, said Forrest Norrod, AMD vice president of data center solutions.
Based on this observation, the two historic competitors announced “ creating an x86 ecosystem advisory group bringing together technology leaders to shape the future of the world’s most widely used computing architecture ».
This group “ will focus on identifying new ways to expand the x86 ecosystem by enabling cross-platform compatibility, simplifying software development, and providing developers with a platform to identify requirements and architectural characteristics to create solutions innovative and scalable for the future ».
The three main objectives stated are:
- Improve customer choice and compatibility of hardware and software, while accelerating their ability to benefit from new cutting-edge features.
- Simplify architectural guidelines to improve software consistency and interfaces between Intel and AMD’s x86 product offerings.
- Enable broader and more efficient integration of new capabilities across operating systems, frameworks, and applications.
In the press release, both Pat Gelsinger (CEO of Intel) and Lisa Su (CEO of AMD) express their enthusiasm, both convinced that the group will now define the directions and architectural improvements to come. Especially since the industry responded, with Broadcom, Dell, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, HP Inc, Lenovo, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle and Red Hat among the founding members, joined by Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic, and Linus Torvalds.
From “fierce competitors” to best enemies
The press release published by Intel does not hesitate to return to the past of the two “ fierce competitors », which nevertheless shares a long history of industrial collaboration, notably on technologies such as PCI, PCIe, Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) and USB. The group’s goal is to take this relationship to the next level. A wedding to which many big names in the sector were invited.
Why this need for consistency? Because everything is not rosy. In the press release, we do not find any examples of friction, but we can at least cite the AVX (Advanced Vector Extensions) instructions. Introduced by Intel and improved several times, their level of compatibility between Intel and AMD chips has never been guaranteed.
In addition, support from AMD sometimes arrived a long time later. The AVX-512 instructions were, for example, presented in 2013 and included in 2016 in the Xeon Phi x200 of the Knights Landing generation. At AMD, support only arrived in 2022 with Zen4. And again, AMD “cheated” by using two 256-bit channels. The Zen 5 architecture, launched earlier this year, does use a 512-bit channel.
We could go further in the past and address the case of x86_64, or x64. This 64-bit extension of the x86 instruction set was created by AMD, in response to the joint work of Intel and HP on the IA64 architecture of the Itanium. The instructions were also initially named AMD64. AMD had approached Microsoft, with the idea of adapted versions of Windows, which became the 64-bit editions that we know. The work had begun when Intel also approached Microsoft with its own variant. Microsoft’s refusal, forcing Intel to follow AMD, with a game first called Intel64T, before being renamed Intel 64. The IA64 architecture of the Itanium never really found its customer base and was abandoned.
Let’s also address the much more recent case of the x86S architecture, presented in May 2023. We do not yet really know Intel’s plans on this subject, since the work was presented as an avenue for reflection. Intel has imagined an x86 architecture stripped of its old bricks to keep only what is strictly necessary for the execution of 64-bit code. The 16 and 32 bit components disappear, 16 bit compatibility is abandoned and that for 32 bits is only kept in software.
Could the x86S be part of future discussions within the group? We don’t know. But the question is all the more on the table since the group must think about the future of x86. In the discussions between Intel and AMD to create the new group, it is impossible that the subject was not at least addressed.
Expected benefits in the software ecosystem
The press release is largely focused on the expected benefits for the software ecosystem. Processors contain many sets of instructions, but not always the same and sometimes with different implementations. The group thus wants to erase these inconsistencies and better unify everything related to x86, so that the exploitation of its capabilities is better ensured by software (in the broad sense).
« x86 has been the foundation of modern computing for over four decades, and we want to make sure it continues to evolve and benefit everyone in the future. By bringing together partners from across the industry, the x86 Ecosystem Advisory Board will play a critical role in shaping future architectural features of the x86 architecture and help ensure consistency in standard software and interfaces “, declared Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft.
The exploitation of power and instructions should therefore be simplified in the years to come. We can hope that such a group will be able to define developments which will quickly be reflected in systems and applications. For example, anything related to AVX instructions. And the architecture could extend beyond its traditional IT framework. At the house of Forbeswe can thus read a Pat Gelsinger ready to conquer every space where there is currently an Arm heart.
The new status of Intel and AMD
If the announcement is anything to be excited about after so many years of struggle, it must be followed by concrete actions. For example, the proliferation of extensions such as SSE, AVX, AMX and others represents a challenge in itself. Can we expect them to be supported consistently in all future chips?
To Forbes, Pat Gelsinger responded: “ I consider all of these things – like AVX and AMX and security extensions – to be on the table, because that’s the type of feedback we want now. AMD and Intel will, respectively and individually, make their own decisions regarding what they put into their products and how they compete in the marketplace, but I view anything related to the ecosystem [et] ISVs, both at the application and operating system level, is on the table during these discussions. It is on this basis that a very large number of companies join the advisory group “. Same story for Lisa Su, under whose leadership AMD has developed so much.
The two competitors will therefore remain competitors, but they will also work on the common base of x86. All that remains is to wait for concrete results, which will not materialize immediately. Changes in instruction sets do indeed take time. We are also waiting to see how the desired coherence for the software ecosystem will materialize.
