IT and Society: Intel develops 1000-core processor

Intel’s Research division is developing an experimental microprocessor consisting of 1000 cores. Today’s CPUs mostly contain from 2 to 6 cores per chip. Not so long ago the company has unveiled an experimental 48-core chip, designed for scalable multithreading calculations for scientific research.

The architecture for the Intel 48-core Single Chip Cloud Computer (SCC) processor is "arbitrarily scalable," said Intel researcher Timothy Mattson, during a talk at the Supercomputer 2010 conference held in New Orleans. “This is a cloud architecture that could, in principle, scale to 1000 cores,” he said. “I can just keep adding, adding, adding cores." Only after 1,000 cores or so, the diameter of the mesh, or the on-chip network connecting the many cores, will grow to such an extent that it would negatively impact performance, Mattson said.

Designed by Intel's TeraScale Research Program over the past several years, the chip itself is an experimental one and is not on the Intel product road map, Mattson said.

Some of the functions, implemented in 48-core processor, in particular those, connected with power-saving capabilities, will appear in the upcoming versions of commercial chips.