As inter-gen performance gains shrink, 3rd gen Intel Xeon Scalable messaging highlights hardware security and co-processor performance. With inter-generation performance gains of the Intel Ice Lake server chips (3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable) unremarkable in comparison to what they used to be when Moore’s Law was in full effect, the company’s messaging around the new data center processor family’s launch focused on its much improved secure enclaves capabilities and its effectiveness when using FPGA accelerators. Intel has fought the CPU battle with AMD before. For years, AMD led that battle on price/performance, building surpluses of mid-range processors with performance just good enough to tip the scales, while Intel countered with world-class manufacturing and upper-tier performance that some thought was worth the premium investment. Earlier this month AMD launched its own third-generation Zen architecture and the performance numbers it shared with reporters appeared to be setting up a very familiar pattern.