Intel Intros Diamond Rapids “Xeon 7” CPUs Built On 18A-P: Packing Up To 192 Cores, 16-Channel Memory, PCIe Gen6 Support, Launching In 2027

Intel is officially unveiling its next-gen Diamond Rapids "Xeon 7" CPUs, which will launch in 2027 and feature an architecture built on the 18A-P process.

Intel 18A-P Sees First Major Product Announcement With Next-Gen Diamond Rapids "Xeon 7" CPU

Intel 18A has found its success with Panther Lake for Client and Clearwater Forest for data centers. Now, Intel is building its next-gen portfolio on its next major process technology called 18A-P. The first CPUs that will feature this technology are called Diamond Rapids, which will power the Xeon 7 data center chip family.

Intel isn't revealing a whole lot of details, but they are confirming some of the major updates. First and most obvious is the 18A-P process technology, which enables a scalable SoC architecture with uniform memory latency. In the chip shot shown off by Intel, we can see four CPU chiplets and two huge I/O dies in the middle. This is a similar approach to AMD's EPYC Venice lineup, which will pack two large IO dies & lots of CPU chiplets, aka CCDs around them.

The chip looks massive, and Intel is bringing a 50% increase in core count. These will all be based on the Panther Cove-X P-Core architecture, optimized for high performance per thread and IaaS. Do note that Diamond Rapids won't support SMT; that will be coming back with the successor, called Coral Rapids, by 2028.

A 50% increase in core count over Granite Rapids, which scales up to 128 cores, means that we are looking at 192 P-cores in total. That's a nice uplift. AMD, on the other hand, is expected to offer up to 256 "Zen 6C" cores in its 6th Gen EPYC lineup, codenamed Venice. Previous details talked about a 256 P-Core and a 512-core E-Core variant, but it looks like the P-Cores will cap out at 192, which means that each of the four chiplets should pack 48 cores each.

For Diamond Rapids, Intel will be introducing two brand-new tiles. First, we have CBB "Core Building Block," which will be the compute tile, and the major detail about this is that, unlike Granite Rapids, which added the IMC on the same tile, Diamond Rapids will be separating it. Early platform details highlight up to 650W TDPs on the LGA 9324 platform with multi-socket capabilities.

The standard Diamond Rapids 16-channel and 512-core Diamond Rapids CPUs will be compatible on the same platform. This means that data centers won't require a different socket or platform to support Intel's higher-core-count SKUs. Talking about memory, the 16-channel design will double the system memory bandwidth through faster DIMMs, delivering faster performance in bandwidth-limited applications. The chips will also feature support for the PCIe Gen6 standard, offering extreme speed and scalability for IO-heavy use cases.

After Diamond Rapids, Intel will introduce Coral Rapids, bringing back P-Cores with SMT support. The lineup is expected to launch in mid of 2028 with 8-channel platforms, but based on recent comments by Lip-Bu Tan, it is likely to be accelerated due to increased CPU demand for Agentic AI workloads. The Intel Diamond Rapids family also included an 8-channel variant initially, but Intel cancelled that to focus on the 16-channel option.

Intel's Xeon CPU lineups are expected to see major traction, with a custom x86 SKU featuring NVLINK in the works and to be handed over to NVIDIA as the AI giant diversifies its CPU lineup into both x86 and Arm offerings. Intel will be competing with both NVIDIA's Vera and AMD's Venice families in the race to lead the data center CPU segment as Agentic AI rages on.

Intel Xeon CPU Families (Preliminary):

Family Branding	Coral Rapids	Diamond Rapids	Clearwater Forest	Granite Rapids	Sierra Forest	Emerald Rapids	Sapphire Rapids	Ice Lake-SP	Cooper Lake-SP	Cascade Lake-SP/AP	Skylake-SP
Process Node	Intel 14A?	Intel 18A-P	Intel 18A	Intel 3	Intel 3	Intel 7	Intel 7	10nm+	14nm++	14nm++	14nm+
Platform Name	TBD	Intel Oak Stream	Intel Birch Stream	Intel Birch Stream	Intel Mountain Stream Intel Birch Stream	Intel Eagle Stream	Intel Eagle Stream	Intel Whitley	Intel Cedar Island	Intel Purley	Intel Purley
Core Architecture	TBD	Panther Cove-X	Darkmont	Redwood Cove	Sierra Glen	Raptor Cove	Golden Cove	Sunny Cove	Cascade Lake	Cascade Lake	Skylake
MCP (Multi-Chip Package) SKUs	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
Socket	TBD	LGA XXXX / 9324	LGA 4710 / 7529	LGA 4710 / 7529	LGA 4710 / 7529	LGA 4677	LGA 4677	LGA 4189	LGA 4189	LGA 3647	LGA 3647
Max Core Count	TBD	Up To 192 P-Cores	Up To 288	Up To 128	Up To 288	Up To 64?	Up To 56	Up To 40	Up To 28	Up To 28	Up To 28
Max Thread Count	TBD	Up To 192	Up To 288	Up To 256	Up To 288	Up To 128	Up To 112	Up To 80	Up To 56	Up To 56	Up To 56
Max L3 Cache	TBD	TBD	TBD	480 MB L3	108 MB L3	320 MB L3	105 MB L3	60 MB L3	38.5 MB L3	38.5 MB L3	38.5 MB L3
Memory Support	TBD	Up To 16-Channel DDR5-9000+	Up To 12-Channel DDR5-8000	Up To 12-Channel DDR5-6400 MCR-8800	Up To 12-Channel DDR5-6400	Up To 8-Channel DDR5-5600	Up To 8-Channel DDR5-4800	Up To 8-Channel DDR4-3200	Up To 6-Channel DDR4-3200	DDR4-2933 6-Channel	DDR4-2666 6-Channel
PCIe Gen Support	PCIe 6.0	PCIe 6.0	PCIe 5.0 (96 Lanes)	PCIe 5.0 (136 Lanes)	PCIe 5.0 (88Lanes)	PCIe 5.0 (80 Lanes)	PCIe 5.0 (80 lanes)	PCIe 4.0 (64 Lanes)	PCIe 3.0 (48 Lanes)	PCIe 3.0 (48 Lanes)	PCIe 3.0 (48 Lanes)
TDP Range (PL1)	TBD	TBD	Up To 500W	Up To 500W	Up To 350W	Up To 350W	Up To 350W	105-270W	150W-250W	165W-205W	140W-205W
3D Xpoint Optane DIMM	TBD	TBD	N/A	Donahue Pass	N/A	Crow Pass	Crow Pass	Barlow Pass	Barlow Pass	Apache Pass	N/A
Competition	TBD	AMD EPYC Venice	AMD EPYC Turin	AMD EPYC Turin	AMD EPYC Bergamo	AMD EPYC Genoa ~5nm	AMD EPYC Genoa ~5nm	AMD EPYC Milan 7nm+	AMD EPYC Rome 7nm	AMD EPYC Rome 7nm	AMD EPYC Naples 14nm
Launch	2028-2029	2027	2026	2024	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020	2018	2017

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