Intel Xeon 6+ ‘Clearwater Forest’ puts 18A in the data center with up to 288 cores, 576 MB of L3 cache

Intel has launched its new Xeon 6+ processor, codenamed Clearwater Forest, built on the advanced 18A process node, supporting up to 288 cores and 576 MB of L3 cache. Designed for data center applicati... Read original →

Intel’s Xeon 6+—built on the 18A node with an all-E-core chiplet design—signals a decisive pivot toward power efficiency in data centers. Technically, its 288-core density will accelerate adoption of CXL memory pooling, DDR5 channel tuning, and liquid cooling, forcing OEMs to overhaul thermal architectures. While 18A isn’t yet restricted under U.S. export controls, reliance on advanced packaging capacity in Taiwan, China exposes Intel to potential supply chain scrutiny if geopolitical tensions escalate. With a 30% per-thread performance lead and 55% better power efficiency over AMD’s EPYC 9965, Intel is directly undermining AMD’s Zen4c value proposition, likely triggering aggressive Zen5 rollouts or price cuts. Over the next 18 months, cloud providers will prioritize watts-per-compute-unit in procurement decisions, marginalizing vendors lacking integrated hardware accelerators.