As you know, Alder Lake processors have made a lot of noise recently. While Intel is having very active days, questions have accumulated. We had a pleasant interview with Ali Rıza Küçük, Consumer Director of Intelin EMEA, Middle East, Turkey and Europe Region, about Alder Lake processors, chip crisis and Intel’s place in the sector.
For our readers, can we get to know you briefly?
Alı Rıza Küçük: I have been the Consumer Director of Intelde EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), Middle East, Turkey and Europe for about six years. With Intel Inside, I am responsible for all consumer consumption businesses in the field of consumer electronics in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa through all Consumer Channels.
You occupy a prominent position at Intel, one of the companies with the widest sphere of influence in the industry. Continuing from the first question, how did all this begin?
ARC: It all started during my college years. I studied computer engineering at Middle East Technical University (METU) and during my studies I was engaged with Intel chips and Translator Language. It was my dream to work at Intel and my adventure at Intel started in 1999. Since then, I have taken on different roles in Turkey, UK and UAE to ensure that customers in Turkey, META (Middle East, Turkey and Africa) and EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) regions can access and buy our world-changing technologies.
For gamers, Intel has an important place in all of our lives. It’s as if it’s been a few days, not years, since Pentium MMX technology broke new ground for us. We have now reached the 12th generation of Alder Lake processors. From this point of view, I would like to ask a question whose answer I am very curious about. What differences does Alder Lake have from the previous generation, and which ones would you like to talk about?
ARC: First of all, Alder Lakete uses a different production process and is designed to be much more efficient.
Its size is smaller than the previous generation, and this small size shortens the distance that electrons have to travel, saving energy and making the design more efficient. Another of the most important differences between these two generations is that Alder Lakein supports faster memory, because the new architecture supports DDR5 memory for desktop computers and LPDDR5i for laptops. The most important advantage it creates in terms of memory is that the data speed is significantly higher. This means that machines with an Alder Lake chip and compatible RAMi are much better at transferring data between the various components of the computer. Alder Lake is also stronger. It offers users a 19% performance improvement per watt compared to the previous generation. The 12th Gen World’s Best Gaming Processor delivers massive performance gains from generation to generation, with up to a 45% increase in the popular League of Legends game.
In the presentation, Intel emphasized that Alder Lakein is a new processor and talked about the extremely wide scope such as mobile games, the convenience it offers for content production, and the advantages it ultimately brings to commercial workstations. What would you like to say about this?
ARC: Intel Alder Lake is a huge family of processors. It is currently 12. There are three processor families under the Generation Core Mobile umbrella: the H-series 45W enthusiast chips, the P-series 28W Performance Thin and Light, and the U-series Modern Thin and Light series, which consists of 9W and 15W SKUs. The H-series is the fastest mobile processor ever, and it’s up to 40% faster. This series designed for content producers; provides extremely fast video editing, three-dimensional modeling and processing.
Gamers have always enjoyed talking about the technical specifications of the processors. When we received the Core i9-12900Kin first test results, we were thrilled. The Core i5-12400, on the other hand, seems to have gained a solid place in the market as a great price-performance product. Trying to be the industry leader in such a competitive field must be stressful.
ARC: We can say that the Core i5-12400, which has left its competitors behind in tests, has become the leader of price-performance processors. This processor has 6 high-performance cores, which we call Golden Coves. Each of these six cores has 2 threads; that is, there are a total of 12 threads in the processor. The Core i5-12400 is already being seen among gamers as a superior price-performance product. Competition in the industry has increased drastically over the past few years, and I think that brings with it a significant advantage for end users. Fierce competition forces us to do better all the time, and at Intel, we take great pleasure in that.
The chip crisis poses one of the industry’s most important problems. We gamers feel this too, especially on consoles. On the other hand, the low-priced processor market for PC gamers has faced the same predicament. What are your views on this? Is there a stock and production crisis in the entry-level processor class?
ARC: With the pandemic, the increase in demand for computers has reached extremely high levels. Currently, the number of devices connected to the internet in the world is estimated at 10 billion. That’s a figure above the total human population. Working from home and distance learning have accelerated the digitalization of the world and led to an increased need for computers. All of this has led to the global chip crisis. At Intel, we’re increasing our manufacturing capacity to meet this high demand. We have made serious investments in this area and we continue to do so. All other companies in the sector are also increasing their capacity by investing. We are also actively working with our partners to increase the supply of other components needed to support the computing ecosystem.
Do you think there is a light at the end of the chip crisis tunnel? When it’s all over, how will prices and production planning be affected?
ARC: I think the chip crisis will last until 2023. The situation will improve over time, but it will not be easy to reach the supply-demand balance until the end of 2022. As I mentioned in my previous answer, it’s not true that the problem is always about chip shortages. This problem is mostly caused by the combinations of parts. We are also working on this issue with our partners. So yes, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Inflation is currently rising all over the world, and it will not be easy to predict what prices will be like when the chip crisis ends. I think prices won’t go down, but they won’t be as high as they used to be.
2022-09-02
