Intel speeds up the exit of Optane business, Dropped support for Optane products since Emerald Rapids

During last year’s Q2 earnings call, Intel solemnly announced its intention to formally discontinue the Optane division, incurring an impairment charge of $559 million. This marks the sixth non-core business divestiture since Pat Gelsinger assumed the role of Intel’s Chief Executive Officer. Earlier in the year, Intel’s Vice President, Kristie Mann, had intimated the imminent arrival of the third generation of Optane products, a promise now unlikely to see fruition.

With the curtain falling on Optane’s enterprise, Intel has initiated the obsolescence process for all products under its banner. The once-lauded Optane, perceived as a competitive edge, has been excluded from future platform support, and the research endeavors into 3D XPoint memory chips had been halted even prior to this. Recent discoveries by enthusiasts have revealed that Intel’s forthcoming Xeon Scalable processor, codenamed “Emerald Rapids” and its successors, will eschew Optane support.

While “Emerald Rapids” maintains compatibility with “Sapphire Rapids”, it will harness the Eagle Stream platform, be fabricated using the Intel 7 process, and employ the Raptor Cove architecture — an optimized variant of the Golden Cove architecture. They share numerous technical similarities, both endorsing an array of accelerators, including Intel’s Data Streaming Accelerator, QuickAssist Technology, Dynamic Load Balancer, Advanced Matrix Extensions, and Memory Analysis Accelerator. In essence, Emerald Rapids’ choice to abandon Optane is born more from strategic business considerations than technological impediments.

Intel’s strategic pivot is now toward the CXL 2.0 memory expansion module. Emerald Rapids will endorse CXL 2.0 type 1/type 2/type 3 devices, thereby supplanting the erstwhile Optane products. Its support for CXL memory expansion mirrors that of Sapphire Rapids, presumably utilizing an identical controller IP.

Owing to its adherence to industry-standard interfaces, it can be seamlessly integrated into new machinery. In theory, Emerald Rapids could still function with Optane products. However, Intel exhibits scant interest in validating a product on the verge of obsolescence using its latest generation of processors. There’s a palpable eagerness to rapidly deplete the Optane inventory in the coming quarters. Moreover, it’s highly improbable that Intel’s suppliers and partners would engage in validation efforts on these data center/workstation platforms.

The final consignment of the Optane Persistent Memory 100 series was originally slated for dispatch on September 30th of this year. However, due to escalating client demand, Intel has postponed this to December 29th, 2023.