基于“英特尔 4”工艺节点打造的爱立信RAN处理器开始部署，比 Meteor Lake 更早进入市场

网络和 5G 芯片公司爱立信可以说是英特尔目前最大的晶圆代工客户。爱立信最新的 RAN 计算处理器采用英特尔 4 处理器节点，英特尔即将推出的 Meteor Lake CPU 芯片用的也是英特尔 4 处理器节点。而爱立信的RAN显然比英特尔Meteor Lake更早进入市场。英特尔和爱立信的这种新的合作关系是英特尔 IDM 2.0 战略最新的好消息。IDM 2.0战略的目标是到 2030 年使英特尔成为全球第二大代工厂（台积电是第一大代工厂）。

That Ericsson was teaming up with Intel to fab processors isn't anything new, as the company announced in July that a future generation of 5G chips would be fabbed on 18A, which is due in 2025. This Intel 4-fabbed processor was actually hinted at all the way back in February 2022 on a roadmap, but we didn't know it was being made on Intel 4 at the time. Now it's official.

爱立信与英特尔联手打造处理器并不是什么新鲜事。爱立信今年 7 月曾宣布，下一代 5G 芯片将使用 18A 工艺，并将于 2025 年面世。实际上，2022 年 2 月的路线图已经暗示了英特尔 4 处理器，但当时我们并不知道是基于英特尔 4 。现在是官宣了。

According to Ericsson's internal testing, its RAN Compute chips made on Intel 4 use "30 to 60 percent less power compared to industry benchmarks." That info isn't as useful as a chip-to-chip comparison would be, but Ericsson's message is clear enough: Its new processors are very efficient. It's implied that Intel 4 is a key reason why these chips are so efficient, but Ericsson's press release doesn't come out and say it explicitly.

根据爱立信的内部测试，其基于英特尔 4 处理器的 RAN 计算芯片的功耗“比行业基准低 30% 到 60%”。这个信息并不像芯片之间的对比那样有用，但爱立信的信息非常明确：爱立信的新处理器非常高效。同时暗示了英特尔 4 是这些芯片如此高效的一个关键原因，但爱立信在新闻稿中并没有明说。

The new chips also have much improved performance, with the high-capacity 6672 and 6372 processors having four times the capacity of their predecessors. The efficiency-focused 6678 and 6671 routers also add AI technology into the mix, which has been 2023's top tech buzzword. Ericsson also boasts about its Open RAN architecture, which seeks to make networking less proprietary, more open, and able to work with a variety of server chips, whether they're running x86 or ARM or something else.

爱立信的RAN新芯片的性能也有很大提高，大容量 6672 和 6372 处理器的容量是前代产品的四倍。注重效率的 6678 和 6671 路由器还融入了人工智能技术。人工智能技术一直是 2023 年的热门科技词汇。爱立信还自豪地宣称旗下的开放式 RAN 架构旨在减少网络的专有性、提高开放性并能与各种服务器芯片配合使用，无论运行的是 x86 还是 ARM 或其他架构。

Although AMD is pretty skeptical of Intel's IFS business and its ability to succeed, this Ericsson-Intel partnership is a clear win for Intel. It also won a defense company contract for 18A chips back in 2021, an order from a big datacenter client to make processors on the Intel 3 node in January of this year, and last April even scored a deal with Arm to fab smartphone chips on 18A. If IFS continues to bear fruit, Intel could be in great shape over the coming years.

尽管AMD 对英特尔的 IFS 业务及其成功能力持怀疑态度，但爱立信与英特尔合作显然是英特尔的一次胜利。英特尔还在 2021 年拿下了一份国防公司 18A 芯片合同。今年 1 月英特尔又签下一家大型数据中心客户在英特尔 3 节点上制造处理器的订单。去年 4 月，英特尔甚至还与 Arm 达成了在 18A 上制造智能手机芯片协议。如果IFS继续开花结果，英特尔在未来几年可能会有一个非常好的发展态势。