Google has replaced Intel CPU with a self-developed chip in YouTube

The users currently upload more than 500 hours of video to YouTube every minute. Google needs to quickly transcode a variety of different resolutions, from 144P to 8K resolution, covering formats such as H.264, VP9, and AV1 and has high requirements for encoding. In the past, Google generally chooses Intel products to complete these tasks, including Intel’s Visual Computing Accelerator (VCA) and Xeon processors, working through the built-in Iris Pro P6300/P580 GT4e integrated graphics core and advanced hardware encoder, the latter uses software encoding.

According to TomsHardware, Google has gradually replaced Intel’s products through its self-developed Argos VCU long ago. The first generation of products has also been deployed in large numbers, but it has not completely replaced Intel’s processors. It is more like a GPU that requires a CPU. In fact, Argos VCU is different from general GPU. It integrates ten H.264 / VP9 encoders, several decoders, four LPDDR4-3200 memory channels, a PCIe interface, a DMA engine, and a general-purpose kernel for scheduling, and is equipped with 8GB of ECC LPDDR4 memory. Except for internally designed encoders/transcoders, most IPs are licensed from third parties to reduce development costs.

In order to adapt to the new coding technology in the future, such as AV1, Google is developing the second-generation VCU. Although the performance advantages of dedicated hardware will be very obvious on some occasions, it will take a while for development and replacement. This also reflects the flexibility of general-purpose processors, making Intel products still occupy a place in Google’s services.

At the same time, Intel also launched a new video accelerator card such as XG310, which faces the same tasks as the second-generation Argos VCU developed by Google. In the future, the Xe-HP architecture GPU will allow Intel to still have strong competitiveness in the media codec market.

Although many companies are developing their own chips to replace Intel’s products, considering various factors such as timeliness, cost, and efficiency, it is not a simple matter. It is likely that in the future, in Google’s services, its self-developed chips and Intel’s products will still coexist with each other.