CPUs are finally having their AI moment

CPUs are becoming more central to agentic AI because they handle orchestration, token processing, caching, and tool execution around LLMs.

AMD used its Advancing AI event to tout EPYC Venice chips and Helios rackscale systems, claiming higher throughput and better agents-per-watt than Nvidia’s Vera CPU and its own prior generation.

Intel is still trailing in this race, with stronger competition expected only when future chips such as Diamond Rapids arrive.

As AI workloads grow more context-heavy, CPU performance and efficiency are becoming more important to AI data-center throughput, not just GPU power.