Intel Announces Release of Next-Gen Diamond Rapids and Clearwater Forest Xeon CPUs in 2024; Team Blue Poised for Comeback in Data Center Market

Intel is set to significantly broaden its data center offerings with the introduction of next-generation Xeon CPUs, specifically Diamond Rapids and Clearwater Forest, which are scheduled for launch in 2026.

Anticipated Advancements in Intel’s Data Center CPU Lineup: Diamond Rapids and Clearwater Forest

In recent years, Intel’s Xeon series has firmly held its ground in the workstation CPU market. However, with the increasing prominence of artificial intelligence, the company has faced mounting competition. Rivals like AMD have leveraged the burgeoning demand for AI with their robust EPYC CPUs, resulting in a shift in market dominance. Intel’s market share has seen a decline, prompting the company to announce plans to re-establish its leadership in this critical sector through its upcoming Xeon CPUs, which are expected to deliver exceptional performance metrics.

So obviously customers are deploying Granite Rapids right now, which is a good step function, then we’ve got Clearwater Forest and Diamond Rapids which is our E core and P core product lines coming in ’26 and so I think we’ll stem the tide and then we’ll start to see market segment share start to build back up.

– Intel’s Products CEO

Concerns about the introduction of Diamond Rapids have been alleviated following an official confirmation from Intel’s Products CEO. Insights from early rumors indicate that Diamond Rapids will feature a sizable LGA 9324 socket, nearly five times the size of the current LGA 1700, alongside the Panther Cove-X P-Cores, positioning it as one of Intel’s most advanced Xeon offerings to date. Recently, the LGA 9324 socket has appeared on the Chinese platform Goofish, indicating that production is approaching completion.

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— HXL (@9550pro) May 27, 2025

While specifics regarding the core counts and specifications of Diamond Rapids remain under wraps, speculation suggests Intel will implement its cutting-edge 18A process technology for these CPUs, facilitating smooth High-Volume Manufacturing (HVM).Diamond Rapids is expected to compete directly with AMD’s upcoming EPYC Venice CPUs, which will utilize TSMC’s cutting-edge 2nm manufacturing process, marking a significant progression in AMD’s CPU lineup. This rivalry is likely to intensify the competition within the data center CPU market.

Turning to Clearwater Forest, Intel anticipates leveraging the Darkmont Core architecture to support up to 288 E-Cores. This series will also integrate Foveros Direct hybrid bonding technology and will be built upon Intel’s 18A process, representing a shift towards greater internal resource utilization for this lineup. Collectively, Clearwater Forest and Diamond Rapids are projected to form the backbone of Intel’s next-generation data center portfolio, and the company is optimistic about their market adoption potential.

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