IBM Reveals Next-Generation IBM POWER10 Processor

New CPU co-optimized for Red Hat OpenShift for enterprise hybrid cloud

By STS News Desk On Aug 17, 2020

IBM reveals the next generation of its IBM POWER central processing unit (CPU) family: IBM POWER10. Designed to offer a platform to meet the unique needs of enterprise hybrid cloud computing, the IBM POWER10 processor uses a design focused on energy efficiency and performance in a 7nm form factor with an expected improvement of up to 3x greater processor energy efficiency, workload capacity, and container density than the IBM POWER9 processor.¹

Learn more about the Legacy and Future of the IBM POWER processor family with its newest member: IBM POWER10.

A collection of IBM POWER10 7nm processors on a silicon wafer. The wafer is cut into individual chips that become the “brains” behind IBM Power Systems servers. Each IBM POWER10 chip can deliver up to 3x the capacity and energy efficiency of the previous generation and up to 20x faster INT8 AI inferencing. Credit: Connie Zhou for IBM

IBM’s new POWER10 chip is built for the hybrid cloud era. It includes breakthrough new security features including, memory inception to improve cloud capacity and delivers faster with 4x additional encryption engines for today’s toughest standards and future encryption standards like quantum-safe cryptography, and new enhancements to container security. Credit: Connie Zhou for IBM

A closer look at the IBM POWER10 7nm processors on a silicon wafer. IBM POWER10 is the first commercialized 7nnm processor and was designed over five years with hundreds of new and pending patents. Credit: Connie Zhou for IBM

Designed over five years with hundreds of new and pending patents, the IBM POWER10 processor is an important evolution in IBM’s roadmap for POWER. Systems taking advantage of IBM POWER10 are expected to be available in the second half of 2021. Some of the new processor innovations include:

IBM’s First Commercialized 7nm Processor that is expected to deliver up to a 3x improvement in capacity and processor energy efficiency within the same power envelope as IBM POWER9, allowing for greater performance.¹
Support for Multi-Petabyte Memory Clusters with a breakthrough new technology called Memory Inception, designed to improve cloud capacity and economics for memory-intensive workloads from ISVs like SAP, the SAS Institute, and others as well as large-model AI inference.
New Hardware-Enabled Security Capabilities including transparent memory encryption designed to support end-to-end security. The IBM POWER10 processor is engineered to achieve significantly faster encryption performance with quadruple the number of AES encryption engines per core compared to IBM POWER9 for today’s most demanding standards and anticipated future cryptographic standards like quantum-safe cryptography and fully homomorphic encryption. It also brings new enhancements to container security.
New Processor Core Architectures in the IBM POWER10 processor with an embedded Matrix Math Accelerator which is extrapolated to provide 10x, 15x and 20x faster AI inference for FP32, BFloat16 and INT8 calculations per socket respectively than the IBM POWER9 processor to infuse AI into business applications and drive greater insights.

“Enterprise-grade hybrid clouds require a robust on-premises and off-site architecture inclusive of hardware and co-optimized software,” said Stephen Leonard, GM of IBM Cognitive Systems. “With IBM POWER10 we’ve designed the premier processor for enterprise hybrid cloud, delivering the performance and security that clients expect from IBM. With our stated goal of making Red Hat OpenShift the default choice for hybrid cloud, IBM POWER10 brings hardware-based capacity and security enhancements for containers to the IT infrastructure level.”

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