Intel has an eye on market domination and not just in the semiconductor space, but in the exploding 5G market too, where the company sees a $25 billion opportunity by 2023.

To that end, the chipmaker has made a considerable push in the space, rolling out new developments ranging from high-end Xeon Scalable processors and radio access network (RAN) accelerator, as well as upgrades to its FlexRAN vRAN and Select Solutions NFVi software suites.

"Intel is the world's leading network silicon provider," said Cristina Rodriguez, VP of Intel's Data Center Group and GM of the wireless access network division, in an email to SDxCentral. "Our full suite of feature-rich silicon, software and tools, combined with our experience in supporting customers transform networks over the last decade and broad ecosystem of partners bring unique value to the industry."

According to Intel, the next wave of network transformation will be fueled by the need to deliver both network services and edge services across multiple network locations. To corner this market, Intel today rolled out upgrades to its network lineup, including improvements to its emerging FlexRAN reference architecture.

The latest release of the software includes support for multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) mid-band pipeline for increased bandwidth and ultra-reliable, low latency communication.

FlexRAN has already been adopted by more than 100 licensees including Amdocs, which is deploying the technology as part of its SmartRAN platform. According to Amdocs, by integrating FlexRAN with its machine learning libraries, it will be able to further enhance analytics and management capabilities, thus enabling customers to tune their networks for optimal performance.

Intel's dedicated 5G accelerator, built on its eASIC technology, has started customer trials. The chip improves network performance by offloading and accelerating the compute-intensive process of forward error correction. By doing so, Intel is able to free up more processing power within its Xeon chips.

Speaking of Xeon, Intel's 5G portfolio will lean heavily on its third-generation Xeon Scalable chips, specifically, those built on the company's network-focused Ice Lake-SP microarchitecture. These chips are purpose built for the rigors of 5G cellular networks, according to Intel.

Intel expects its Ice Lake-SP chips to begin shipping by the end of the year, while its small-form-factor Xeon-D will begin shipping in mid-2021.

Finally, Intel has extended support for its Intel Ethernet 800 series network adapter to Red Hat, Ubuntu, and the NFVi Forwarding Platform as part of its Select Solutions offering. According to the chipmaker, the network adapter delivers increased performance and dynamic device personalization to its NFVi software partners.

Intel has already had some early success with its 5G product portfolio with Rakuten Mobile, SK Telecom, and Verizon actively deploying Intel software and technologies on their networks.

Intel claims, in collaboration with Verizon, Samsung, and Wind River, to have completed the world's first fully virtualized end-to-end 5G data session.

Meanwhile, SK Telecom has announced a collaboration with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intel, and Samsung to introduce new hardware and software technologies into the operator's network.

Finally, Rakuten Mobile has deployed Intel technologies like FlexRAN, Xeon processors, and FPGAs across the breadth of its greenfield 5G network.

In its last earnings report, Intel stunned analysts when CEO Bob Swan admitted that the company's 10-nanometer Xeon Scalable chips wouldn't ship until early 2021, and the company's 7-nanometer manufacturing process had hit a snag.

“We now expect to see initial product shipments of our first Intel-based 7-nanometer product, a client CPU, in late 2022 or early 2023,” he said at the time.

However, Rodriguez remains optimistic these delays won't negatively impact the company's 5G ambitions.

"5G is happening now and we have a great portfolio of products — including 10-nanometer products — to serve that opportunity," she said. "Process technology is a critical component, but ultimately what our customers care about is our ability to deliver the performance they need, on a schedule they can count on."

As evidence of this, Rodriguez pointed to the launch of the Intel Atom P5900, which Intel unveiled in February.

"With the launch of the Intel Atom 5900 processor — code-named Snow Ridge — Intel expects to be the leading silicon provider in base stations by 2021," she wrote.