Intel changes its processor development strategy
The news came on Wednesday March 23, 2016 that computer software giant Intel would change its tick-tock microprocessor development strategy. The company delivered this message with little fanfare. Instead of tick-tock, Intel plans on introducing “process-architecture-optimization.”
The decision was hidden away in the pages of Intel’s annual report, instead of announced during a keynote, which is the common approach for many tech companies. While the news may have been revealed in a low-key manner, the outcome of this decision could cause a profound change in the microprocessor market.
For anyone out of the loop when it comes to Intel’s previous development strategy, it can be best described as a “tick-tock” cycle. The “tick” in this case, was the shrinking of processing size, while the “tock” was an upgrade to the microarchitecture. In other words, the “tick” made chips smaller and faster, while the “tock” made everything more stable.
Intel would switch between the two development strategies each year, hence the term “tick-tock.” This allowed the company to churn out new and upgraded chips faster than the competition, which has lead Intel to become the dominant processor manufacturer on the market.
The good news in regards to the phasing out of the “tick-tock” cycle is that developers, as well as consumers, can now have more time with their processors before they become obsolete.
Upon closer inspection, the bad news is what this means for both the company and the future of computer processor development.
The switch in strategies boils down to the idea of Moore’s Law, named after Intel co-founder Gordon Moore. A simple version of Moore’s Law is that processors will double in power and processing speed every two years—at least, that’s what Moore thought in the early 1970s.
While this law has been consistent for decades, the news of Intel’s development cycle change has indicated otherwise. The new three-stage model does not have the same stringent timeframe as the old “tick-tock” model, and allows further development on each chip before being sent out into the marketplace. This new period allows for the optimization of chips, as a way to wring some extra life out of the current tech before moving onto the next generation.
As a company, however, this slowing down of development could be an indication that the advancements in processing technology are not as consistent as they once were. Current Intel CEO Brian Krzanich first cast doubt on the dependability of Moore’s Law when he announced in July 2015 that Intel was looking into changing the development period to a 2.5-year cycle, instead of the predicted two.
While this change in development strategy will not greatly impact the common consumer at any point in the relative future, it will be interesting to see how long the new cycles between processor releases will last as computing technology moves forward.