AMD and Intel have joined forces to unify and develop the x86 architecture

In a rare public display of cooperation between two of the industry’s fiercest competitors, Intel and AMD announced the formation of a new advisory group to ensure the advancement of the unified x86 instruction set architecture (ISA). Given the addition of new features, as well as various efforts to simplify the x86 instruction set, working together on this front is an important decision.

Image Source: Intel/AMD

The two companies, in a joint statement, announced the creation of a new x86 ecosystem advisory group at the 2024 OCP Summit. It already includes several well-known industry players in both software and hardware developers, including Google, Broadcom, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft, Meta✴, Oracle and Red Hat. It is expected that the number of group members will increase in the future.

The x86 architecture was adopted 46 years ago and is the most common instruction set used in both home PCs and data center systems. Intel and AMD are the only two major licensees of the x86 architecture, producing x86 processors in large volumes, creating a duopoly in the market. Collaboration between them, involving multiple customers and end users, will help build a more unified approach that will reduce or even eliminate problems that may arise for duopoly customers using hardware and software from both manufacturers. The unification process is also seen as important as the x86 ecosystem faces intense pressure from Arm in both the consumer and data center markets. Additionally, don’t forget the continued rise in popularity of the RISC-V architecture.

The new x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group intends to standardize at least some of the new extensions and changes to x86. Specific changes and areas of cooperation between the two companies have not yet been determined, but there are many clear points in the x86 instruction set that could be the subject of discussion.

For example, AMD has its Supervisor Entry Extensions, which are designed to remove some of the legacy instructions from the x86 set, while Intel has its Flexible Return and Event Delivery (FRED) code, which serves similar purposes. Intel has even begun work on the X86S instruction set, a simplified 64-bit implementation designed to get rid of the legacy 16- and 32-bit architecture extensions.

While the development of a unified tool for clearing legacy instructions from the architecture is the most obvious area of ​​potential collaboration between the two companies, the x86 instruction set also continues to evolve rapidly with new extensions, and this is where alignment between Intel and AMD could become even more important. For example, Intel recently introduced AMX, a matrix processing extension that significantly improves performance in AI workloads. The company also introduced the AVX10 instruction set. Creating unified versions of these add-ons would benefit not only manufacturers, but also customers of both companies. However, in the future, both companies will of course continue to develop x86, especially in the issue of releasing various extensions related to the work of AI algorithms.

Ahead of Intel and AMD’s joint announcement of a new x86 ecosystem advisory group, Tom’s Hardware spoke with Forrest Norrod, executive vice president and general manager of AMD’s Data Center Solutions BU, as well as Justin Hotard ), executive vice president and general manager of the Data Center and AI Group at Intel.

«AMD and Intel are excited to team up on this. We believe this is one of the most significant changes to the x86 ecosystem in decades. As Justin said, x86 is the de facto standard. It’s a strong ecosystem, and Intel and AMD have kind of co-developed it, but at arm’s length. And that has led to some inefficiency and some drift in parts of the ISA over time. Looking from the outside, we realize that this is actually an open ecosystem. Open ecosystems benefit from collaboration with stakeholders, all of whom have a say in moving the ecosystem forward,” Norrod said.

However, you shouldn’t expect complete mutual understanding between AMD and Intel – they are still key competitors in the market.

«We will remain fierce competitors. You know, Justin and I are friends first, but when we come to work every day, we’re fiercely trying to compete on behalf of our companies and trying to make sure our customers have a compelling choice from each of our companies. We can compete even as we work together to advance industry standards, and we each have a rich history in these issues,” Norrod added.

«I think another question that might interest you is why we decided to do this now? Because we’re seeing a real shift in the demand for computing. We are at an inflection point. We believe now is the right time to enable this new, consistent architecture as a source of innovation for our ecosystem. We look for new solutions to evolve the architecture and then implement them in standard ways, while thinking that the adoption of these changes within the architecture will be easy, whether by hardware suppliers or software developers. However, there were many different requests for new features for x86. Some were accepted by one of us, and some were accepted by neither of us. I think the agreement between us on a consistent approach is fundamental, so we will have good predictability,” Hotard added.

Closer collaboration between competitors and standardization of processes will also benefit security-related functions. Intel and AMD are already collaborating on several fronts on this issue in a non-public manner, and standards such as PCIe, ACPI and USB, among others, are the result of their intensive joint efforts. Obviously, questions about joint decisions about the future of the x86 ecosystem could create controversy between the two competitors, but Norrod cites the presence of other companies and customers in the group as a force that will help both processor makers move in the right direction.

Via Technologies is another x86 licensee, but its status in the initiative group is still unknown. Intel acquired most of Via’s assets, although the latter retained the right to produce x86 processors. Representatives from Intel and AMD told Tom’s Hardware that Via is free to join the group and will provide more details in the future.

AMD and Intel are working together to chart a new course for the x86 architecture to improve compatibility and consistency. However, given the long processor design cycles, the first results of this cooperation will not be seen until next year, and maybe later.