Intel’s Diamond Rapids Xeon 7 Eyes on AI with 256 P-Cores and Gen6 I/O
Intel previewed Diamond Rapids Xeon 7 data‑center CPUs on the 18A‑P process with up to 256 P‑Cores, a shared 1.28 GB L3/LLC, 16‑channel DDR5 memory up to 12,800 MT/s, and 128 PCIe Gen6 lanes plus CXL 3.0. The chips use a disaggregated, multi‑tile SoC design with Foveros Direct 3D and UCIe‑S interconnect to boost AI workloads, and are positioned against AMD EPYC Venice. SMT is not included in this generation; Coral Rapids will reintroduce SMT later (mid‑2028 launch targeted). Launch cadence may accelerate due to AI demand.