Intel’s executive team today showcased its vision for the next wave of technology, and framed its strategy around a series of converging trends.

“We believe that together we can unleash the power of data to make the world a better place,” said Navin Shenoy, EVP and GM of the Data Platforms Group at Intel, during a virtual event marking the release of Intel’s third-generation Xeon Scalable processors. 

Intel aims to meet that goal by shaping its strategy around four areas of rapid adoption and confluence, he said. Those trends include the proliferation of hybrid cloud; advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) that are being infused into the edge, network, and cloud; 5G deployments, which are fueling new use cases; and the heightened demands of 5G that are pushing compute resources closer to where data is created and consumed.

“The confluence of these trends is leading to the biggest and fastest build-out of computing in human history,” Shenoy said. “To keep pace with this rapid digital transformation, Intel recognizes that infrastructure has to be built to be flexible across a broad set of workloads.”

That “flexibility will extend across hardware, software, applications, and services,” he added. 

Intel’s new CEO Pat Gelsinger pulled further on that thread in his remarks, positioning the vendor as an integral contributor and beneficiary of those trends.

“Technology has never been more important for humanity than it is today,” he said. “In this landscape of rapid digital disruption, which has been accelerated by the global pandemic, Intel’s technology and leadership products are more critical than ever.”

Intel’s third-generation Xeon Scalable family of processors “offers a flexible architecture that delivers built-in AI acceleration and advanced security capabilities that are so necessary in a world of workload diversification and growing complexity,” Gelsinger said.

“I often say technology is like magic. It has the power to touch and improve the lives of every person on the planet,” he said.

Intel views its customers, developers, and engineers as “the lifeblood of our industry,” and the vendor is committed to increasing its collaboration with a broad set of developers to help its technology reach more industries and users, Gelsinger said. 

“It’s the richness of our differences that will lead us to imagine and create new world-changing technology,” he said. “It’s a new day at Intel. We are no longer just a CPU company. Only Intel can bring together software, silicon, and platforms packaging and process with at-scale manufacturing for our customers so they can build their next-generation innovations.”

That forms what he described as Intel’s “unique advantage as an integrated device manufacturer (IDM).” Intel’s IDM 2.0 push “will deliver a new era of innovation, manufacturing, and product leadership through the powerful combination of three capabilities,” including Intel’s internal factory network, strategic use of foundry capacity, and Intel’s new foundry services, Gelsinger explained.

“Our IDM 2.0 strategy combines leading process, product, supply, and cost that we will use to design the best products and manufacture them in the best way possible for our customers in every category we participate in,” he said. “These are truly exciting times ahead for our industry. We can harness the power of our differences and work together to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges, build on an existing technology foundation, grow new partnerships, and accelerate innovation.”