Intel's Sierra Forest CPU on the Birch Stream AP platform, which appears far in the future, is said to offer 7,529 contact areas. This would even surpass the Cascade Lake-AP experimental CPU in BGA-5903 format, which suggests major adjustments.
Intel's upcoming server solution, Sapphire Rapids LGA 4677, on the other hand, looks almost tiny. However, the abbreviation BHS-AP suggests a special area of application, as was the case with Cascade Lake-AP (CLX-AP), regular Xeon processors could differ. It is currently still completely unclear when these solutions will appear. After Sapphire Rapids, according to previously known plans, Emerald Rapids should actually appear on the same platform as Sapphire Rapids and Granite Rapids – the platform name Birch Stream had already been used for the latter, but probably here as an SP version.
In the meantime, however, the code name Ruby Rapids has also been used, as well as various SP and AP variants of Diamond Rapids as a very distant solution. The field at Intel seems to be mixed up and the future will show what will ultimately come onto the market.
