Intel Unveils Supercomputing Multicore ProcessorIntel Unveils Supercomputing Multicore Processor

Intel has unveiled a multicore supercomputing processor based in part on technology from Larrabee, the codename for an advanced graphics chip that was placed on hold late last year.

The new product, codenamed Knights Corner, is based on Intel's Many Integrated Core architecture. The processor will scale to more than 50 processing cores and will be built on Intel's 22-nanometer manufacturing process.

Intel is targeting Knights Corner at high-performance computing applications found in oil and gas exploration, scientific research and financial or climate simulation. The company introduced the new product Monday at the International Supercomputing Conference in Hamburg, Germany.

Intel also announced design and development kits for building applications for the new product. Codenamed Knights Ferry, the tools, which have been shipping to select developers, will be generally available in the second half of 2010.

Intel said the MIC architecture is derived from several Intel projects, including Larrabee and such Intel Labs research projects as the single-chip cloud computer. The MIC architecture is separate from Intel's Xeon chips used in mainstream business computing. The former architecture is designed for highly parallel applications used in supercomputing.

Without providing any details, Intel said in December 2009 that it would not launch Larrabee as planned. In development for several years, the chip was billed as a "many-core x86 architecture for visual computing."

Before the suspension, Intel had demonstrated a working prototype at the Intel Developer Forum three months earlier. Larrabee would have competed against discrete graphics products from Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices' ATI division.

Nvidia and AMD offer modified versions of the multicore architecture used in their graphics chips for high-performance computing.