Intel Tremont CPU Microarchitecture: Power Efficient, High-Performance x86

Intel has also made some updates to Tremont’s instruction set as well, and incorporated some new, and existing, technologies that weren’t previously present in its low-power x86 microarchitectures.

Intel Tremont: Hardened For Better Security With Significant IPC Gains

Because Tremont is destined for micro-servers and edge devices, where specialized accelerators may also be used, Intel has equipped Tremont with instructions designed to optimally dispatch work and synchronize accelerators. Tremont also features support for Speed Shift, which has been present on its desktop CPUs since Skylake. Speed Shift allows the processor to ramp up and down, via a hardware-based controller, to improve responsiveness. Tremont also features Intel’s Trusted Execution and Boot Guard technologies for more hardened security support, in addition to support for total memory encryption.



All told, the changes made to Intel's Tremont microarchitecture result in significant IPC gains versus Goldmont Plus -- on average by about 30%. The single-thread performance improvements above were obtained with early samples and without any code changes as well, so with further optimization at the software level, even better performance than what is represented here is possible. Relative power characteristics versus Sunny Cove show a significant reduction as well.


The Foveros-based hybrid Lakefield processor is the first commercially-ready product to feature the Intel Tremont microarchitecture with its low-power cores. As we now know, Lakefield will also be powering the upcoming Microsoft Surface Neo. In addition, Intel’s Snow Ridge SoC, which targets 5G deployments will leverage Tremont.

Intel beleives Tremont-based processors will enable a new wave of innovative form factors for client devices, more efficient data center products, and new-found applications for the internet of things (IoT). By leveraging Intel’s Foveros 3D packaging technology, Tremont can be integrated within a broad range of technologies and customized for specific applications and designs. We already know of one customer, but considering Tremont's expected performance and efficiency, there will surely be others on the horizon as well.