Conclusion
As you may have guessed, for any respected technology journalist, the first subject that interested us was the Nehalem and Larrabee. Intel didn't unveil any new details in this area and probably for several reasons. The main one was that they gave the latest details just before this IDF took place.
However, we also got the impression that the manufacturer hesitated in saying more and probably held itself back. In the current climate, Intel largely dominates with no pressure on the CPU market due to weak competition from AMD. Therefore, there was no reason to hurry and give details too early. Concerning the Larrabee, Intel is probably waiting to know more on the potentials of its chip so as not to have to retract any claims in the case of problems as well as observing what Nvidia does.
For Intel, AMD is under control. Whether this is an underestimation or not, based on the evidence, AMD will probably continue to be noteworthy competitor as much on the GPU as CPU level; however, it will not be a force that will be able to significantly affect the market. In short, AMD does not scare Intel.
On the other hand, Nvidia is a confirmed threat. If this manufacturer looks like David compared to Goliath, the determination of its management probably creates some doubt for Intel. The latter intends to keep Nvidia out of its backyard and do everything to prevent this outsider from having too much to say on the computing market. In the process, Intel is planning on repositioning itself in terms of graphic rendering, a domain which is very profitable because it’s possible to justify almost any supplementary calculation power. This is contrary to the classic CPU market in which it is increasingly harder to show the value and interest of a processor priced at 1000€. Of course, Intel plans on changing this; however, it will not prevent them from positioning themselves in two areas.
Nvidia attacks Intel, Intel attacks Nvidia, and the battle should be interesting to follow. Besides the small offensives and (supposed) low blows which are more and more frequent, we should be able to observe a Nvidia offensive that will gain in ampler in 2008 and then a massive response from Intel in 2009.
Finally, in ending, we should briefly mention a domain that is demanding in calculation power and which will become increasingly important in the future: robotics and artificial intelligence. This is probably a long term strategy in which Intel has an enormous advantage: its R&D capacity is incomparable with other rivals.
On the left, an artificial hand equipped with sensors capable of detecting close objects and therefore avoids crushing a human hand, for example. On the right, a Core 2 inside vacuum cleaner… oops…we mean a well behaved robot.
