Intel has recently provided an update on its instruction support for the upcoming Arrow Lake-S and Lunar Lake CPU lineups. The company has confirmed support for several new instructions that will enhance AI and machine learning capabilities.
According to Intel’s Architecture Instruction Set Extensions and Future Features document, the new CPUs will come with extensive instruction support. Some of the notable additions include AVX-VNNI-INT16, SHA512, SM3, and SM4 instructions, which are specifically designed for tasks related to artificial intelligence.
While the instruction names may sound complex, their purpose is fairly straightforward. The AVX-VNNI instruction, for example, allows the processor to perform operations for neural networks with greater efficiency. This results in improved performance in applications that require machine learning capabilities. Given the growing prominence of AI-based programs, this instruction is vital as it enables faster and more optimized computing performance.
Interestingly, Intel has chosen not to bring AVX-512 support to consumer-level chips at this time. This means that AMD Ryzen CPUs will have a clear advantage in terms of AVX-512 support. However, Intel demonstrated its first-generation AI accelerator on Meteor Lake CPUs at Computex 2023, indicating that there may be a possibility of AVX-512 support in future chips.
In addition to AVX-VNNI, Intel has also introduced support for SHA512, SM3, and SM4 instructions. These instructions are related to secure hashing and encryption, making them crucial for applications that require data security and authentication. Hardware support for these cryptographic algorithms allows the processor to perform hash calculations and encryption/decryption operations much faster than software-based implementations.
The document also mentions support for the upcoming Raptor Lake Refresh Desktop CPU lineup, which will be part of the 14th Gen Desktop platform arriving in Q4 of this year. However, there is no mention of the Meteor Lake-S family, suggesting that Intel intends to keep that specific lineup exclusively for mobile devices, with the Arrow Lake-S lineup catered towards desktop users in 2024.
Overall, Intel’s update on instruction support for the Arrow Lake-S and Lunar Lake CPUs brings encouraging news for those interested in AI and machine learning tasks. The inclusion of instructions optimized for these applications will undoubtedly enhance the performance and capabilities of Intel’s next-generation CPUs.
