This new rumor would indicate that Intel would follow Apple’s footsteps and incorporate a VPU in the next generation of Meteor Lake CPUs. Adding this element would be possible thanks to Forevos technology which allows to assemble different dies in the same package. NPUs are designed to accelerate the performance of common machine learning tasks, such as classification, translation, object detection and other predictive models. NPUs are sometimes found with different names, such as Tensor Processing Unit (TPU), Neural Network Processor (NNP) and Intelligence Processing Unit (IPU), Vision Processing Unit (VPU). This rumor comes from MLD, which indicates that according to him, it is possible that we will see the new technology from Intel as early as 2023. According to his information, this VPU will be integrated next to Intel’s processor core architecture and will react in a very similar way to Apple’s Neural Engine technology that is present in their M1 processors. In his explanation, he projects how the VPU could process video more efficiently. He uses the example of a Netflix stream at 4K streaming resolution, instead of being reduced to 1080p due to individual bandwidth speeds. With Intel, using a low-power VPU to increase video quality would reduce some of the processor’s processing power.
But Intel isn’t the only one looking to take advantage of this technology. AMD also plans to introduce on-chip machine learning on its upcoming Van Gogh and Rembrandt processors. The Rembrandt APUs for desktop and mobile computers would be the first chips to actually implement the technology for the PC mass markets.
