Intel operates in many different product segments, from data centers to personal computers to different kinds of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The chip maker creates many products within those segments, making it pretty hard to single out a product line that is Intel’s “best” release each year. But within the broad portfolio of products, there are products that are more important to its financial results today and to its prospects later, Ashraf Eassa reports in a post on The Motley Fool.
Why the 10-core Core i7 6950X is Intel’s best product
The 10-core Core i7 6950X Extreme Edition processor is one such product that was noteworthy of all the product families the chip giant released this year. The processor, priced at $1,723, is for gamers and enthusiasts. This processor arrived as part of the family of processors code-named Broadwell-E.
The Broadwell-E family of chips is targeted at the high-end desktop market that consists of gamers and other PC users who want a lot of processor power. In addition, this chip is one of the highest priced consumer-grade processors that the chip maker has launched in recent years, says Eassa.
The release of this expensive processor made it doubtful whether there would be much of a market for it, but sales of the 10-core chip were even better than what Intel Chief Executive Brian Krzanich was expecting. As a result, it appears that there exists real demand for the Core i7 6950X chip.
Even with excellent margins and high average selling prices, the absolute volume is just too low to have a huge impact on Intel’s revenue growth. However, the success of this chip is making the company put more effort into creating other high-end products specifically for gamers and other PC enthusiasts, says Eassa. The chip maker might be able to boost unit growth by focusing more on this market and making even better products.
Xeon Phi processors: the second-best product from Intel
Intel’s second-generation of Xeon Phi processors was the second-best product after the Core i7 6950X Extreme Edition gaming chip, says Eassa. The Xeon Phi processors, also called Knights Landing, were targeted at deep-learning applications and high-performance computing.
In July, Krzanich told investors that shipments of the second-generation Xeon Phi processors during the first half of 2016 were about eight times more than the overall number of first-generation Xeon Phi chips (sold in 2015). Similar to the Core i7 6950X, sales of this processor will not have a huge impact on Intel’s revenue growth, but the “early success should give the company more confidence to invest in future iterations of the product line.”
