Intel has turned on prototype Xe-gpu and seems to send test chips

Intel seems to have prototypes ready for its first Xe GPU. The database of the Eurasian Economic Commission lists the Discrete Graphics DG1 External FRD1 Accessory Kit. Intel’s first separate video card will be released in 2020.

The listing of the Intel Discrete Graphics DG1 External FRD1 Accessory Kit does not detail its exact contents, but does indicate that it is an alpha product. That seems to indicate components for testing purposes. It may be test GPUs that Intel sends to manufacturers.

At the presentation of the quarterly figures at the end of last week, Intel announced that for the first time a test has been carried out with the DG1 GPU, where it is mounted on a pcb and turned on. Ari Rauch, chief executive of Intel’s graphics division emphasized on Twitter that this is an important step. However, he says there is still a long way to go.

Intel has been working on graphics cards with its own Xe GPUs for a few years now. The first of these is a consumer video card that should be released in 2020. A year later, Intel also comes with a variant for servers that will be made at 7nm. Concrete details about the video cards are not yet available. Raja Koduri, the former chief executive of AMD’s Radeon business unit, has been leading the Intel graphics card design team since late 2017.