IBM has unveiled the next generation of its Telum processor, along with a new AI accelerator called Spyre. The technologies are aimed at improving the performance of IBM Z mainframes, especially in the areas of AI and large language models.
The Telum II processor features according to IBM about eight cores running at 5.5GHz, with a 40 percent increase in cache capacity compared to its predecessor. There is 36MB of L2 cache available per core, resulting in a total on-chip cache of 360MB. The virtual level-4 cache has grown to 2.88GB per processor tray. The integrated AI accelerator offers four times the computing power of the first Telum processor. Another addition is the integrated data processing unit, which should speed up and simplify the processing of input and output.
In addition to the Telum II, IBM is introducing the Spyre accelerator, a PCIe card specially designed for complex AI models. This card can contain up to 1TB of memory and consumes a maximum of 75W. The Spyre accelerator can work with eight cards in a standard I/O tray. Each Spyre chip contains 32 computing cores that support different data formats.
IBM is targeting applications such as fraud detection, anti-money laundering and AI assistants with this new hardware. The combination of Telum II and Spyre should lead to improved performance in both traditional and new AI models. The Telum II processor and Spyre accelerator are expected to be available to customers with IBM Z and LinuxONE systems in 2025.
