Intel Shows Off 48-Core x86 Processor

"Unlike elsewhere at the world's largest chipmaker, Intel Labs has a little more leeway to dream up whole new designs and ideas without the pressure of shipping a final product. That has the advantage of letting it, under the direction of CTO Justin Rattner, come up with groundbreaking designs.

"As a result, innovations like the SCC and 80-core processor -- both of which graduated from Intel's Terascale project to build massive-scale processors -- are meant to be experiments, not finished products.

""Could you replace a rack of these regular processors with a high-core count processor? I ask in an experimental sense, because this will not be a product -- it will never be a product," Rattner told an audience here. "But it does provide a rich area for research into future product."

"Intel also plans to enlist the aid of several key partners in experimenting with the design. Intel said it expects to make about 100 of the processors, which will be given to research partners that include Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and several universities. They will work to build software for many-core processors as well as continue to refine the processor's design."

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