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Intel is all-in on backside power delivery

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Re: Intel is all-in on backside power delivery

#61

Post by ihaveajob »

HeWhoLurksLate wrote: post #5

Reading stuff like this makes some part of me really happy- I'll probably never even get into this part of the industry, but reading about breakthroughs like this always just feel really amazing

I worked at Intel for 3 years and I felt similarly. I was in a group writing software to help the R&D physicists figure out the kinks of the low-level devices (next-gen transistors) way before going to silicon. The day-to-day work was relatively mundane, but talking to these people about their problems and needs made me feel like I was doing my little bit to move humankind forward.

Re: Intel is all-in on backside power delivery

#62

Post by jiggawatts »

ihaveajob wrote: post #61
HeWhoLurksLate wrote: post #5

Reading stuff like this makes some part of me really happy- I'll probably never even get into this part of the industry, but reading about breakthroughs like this always just feel really amazing

I worked at Intel for 3 years and I felt similarly. I was in a group writing software to help the R&D physicists figure out the kinks of the low-level devices (next-gen transistors) way before going to silicon. The day-to-day work was relatively mundane, but talking to these people about their problems and needs made me feel like I was doing my little bit to move humankind forward.

Soon: "Doing my little bit to move AI-kind forward."

Re: Intel is all-in on backside power delivery

#63

Post by reissbaker »

hn8305823 wrote: post #28
civilitty wrote: post #6

Hopefully this will be the kick in the backside that Intel needs to start leading again.

Intel, just like Boeing and to a lesser extent many other F500 companies appear to be fully financialized at this point. Their executives probably wake up each day and think about how much stock to buy back and nothing else. Do they even remember what it is the company used to do for a living?

Intel was this way, but IMO Pat Gelsinger has turned it around — as per this, their surprisingly competitive GPU perf, and hopefully Intel Foundry Services.

IDK if it's enough to call it a Satya Nadella-like CEO transition, but I've been pretty impressed watching it happen.

Re: Intel is all-in on backside power delivery

#65

Post by justinclift »

hn8305823 wrote: post #28
civilitty wrote: post #6

Hopefully this will be the kick in the backside that Intel needs to start leading again.

Intel, just like Boeing and to a lesser extent many other F500 companies appear to be fully financialized at this point. Their executives probably wake up each day and think about how much stock to buy back and nothing else. Do they even remember what it is the company used to do for a living?

Yeah, that's why back in Jan 2021 Intel ousted their CEO Bob Swan, who was a finance guy running Intel into the ground.

The replacement CEO, Pat Gelsinger, has an engineering background and looks to be fixing things properly:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Gelsinger

The Intel board looks to have recognised and addressed the financialisation problem properly for once. Pretty rare for a board.

Pity the boards of IBM, HP (etc) haven't been as capable.

Re: Intel is all-in on backside power delivery

#67

Post by metadat »

rektide wrote: post #13

I thought the Anandtech coverage did a bit better job filling in both background & details. https://www.anandtech.com/show/18894/intel-details-powervia-...

Does Backside Power Delivery mean the silicon area of the chip will be placed upside down on the motherboard to ensure efficient heat dissipation? (Since the power source will be on the opposite side compared to current day silicon)

P.s. in case you never heard of BPD technology, https://semiengineering.com/challenges-in-backside-power-del... is also informative (thanks @rektide for the Anand link!)

Edit:

Relevant quote from TFA which somewhat answers the above question:

> Of note, because the carrier wafer is on the signal side of the chip, this means it presents another layer of material between the transistors and the cooler. Intel’s techniques to improve heat transfer take this into account, but for PC enthusiasts accustomed to transistors at the top of their chip, this is going to be a significant change.

TL;DR: No.

Re: Intel is all-in on backside power delivery

#68

Post by wtallis »

t2i34uo234234 wrote: post #66

I imagine the pioneers of this were the camera-sensor folks (mostly Sony?) doing BSI ?

BSI requires avoiding having wiring on both sides, so that there's a side where no wiring will interfere with incoming light. But it does at least share the idea of polishing down the die so the layer of bulk silicon under the transistors is very thin.

Re: Intel is all-in on backside power delivery

#69

Post by worrycue »

porknubbins wrote: post #54
hn8305823 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Intel, just like Boeing and to a lesser extent many other F500 companies appear to be fully financialized at this point. Their executives probably wake up each day and think about how much stock to buy back and nothing else. Do they even remember what it is the company used to do for a living?

Intel rested on their laurels for many years but their processors are neck and neck with AMD in some segments (probably because they had margin to burn, which they now have to stay competitive). And they are still adding fabs in the US. When I think of financialized companies I think like IBM. I wouldn’t count Intel out yet.

I don’t know if they have been resting on their laurels. Alder Lake which was a huge departure from their previous architectures came out at a very good time - just as their previous design was running out of steam. It takes years to get a new design from drawing board to production.

IMHO Intel’s R&D was humming along just fine but the company as a whole had problems pushing stuff into full production. The new CEO managed to get the company into shape enough to actually ship things again.

Re: Intel is all-in on backside power delivery

#70

Post by singhrac »

Tuna-Fish wrote: post #10
boringuser2 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Intel is producing amazing GPUs AND CPUs right now.

They really are not making amazing GPUs. The ones on the market are only decent value because Intel is selling them far below what it cost to make them, because there's no way they could sell them at proper prices. Even still, they have ceased production, and the product is still on the shelves.

They did it to take market share, and they have, slightly (6% market share against AMDs 9%). If you look closely their software story is miles ahead of AMDs, so I can see them coming to a comfortable second in the next few years… which is nothing small given the leader is apparently a trillion dollar company.
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