NVIDIA, first details on the Rosa CPU: new Rigel cores and focus on agentic AI performance

NVIDIA has previewed some details about the upcoming Rosa CPU for data centers, a solution that will debut alongside the Feynman platform and represent the next step beyond the current Vera. The company confirms its intention to strengthen its presence in the CPU segment, which is increasingly seen as an important element for supporting agentic AI workloads alongside graphics accelerators.

The main novelty involves the introduction of Rigel, the new proprietary core that will equip Rosa. Based on the Arm v9.2 architecture, Rigel will succeed the current Olympus cores that make up Vera. According to NVIDIA, the new design will offer superior single-core performance while maintaining the same footprint, a result achieved through architecture optimization rather than a simple increase in chip size.

For Rigel, the company identifies three main areas of improvement over the Olympus cores: a more efficient instruction execution pipeline, a larger L2 cache, and further optimized memory management. These interventions should translate into an increase in single-thread performance, a parameter that NVIDIA considers increasingly relevant for future workloads related to AI agents.

As for Vera, which is already in production and distributed within the Vera Rubin systems and rack configurations dedicated to large AI sector clients, NVIDIA recalls that the CPU integrates 88 Olympus cores, compared to 72 of the previous Grace. At this time, however, neither the number of cores expected for Rosa nor other technical details such as the memory subsystem have been communicated.

NVIDIA's CPU strategy will not be limited to data centers. The company has already confirmed that the same family of cores will also be employed in future RTX Spark platforms, extending the technology developed for professional AI systems to solutions dedicated to PCs.

The publication of these details also comes at a time when NVIDIA's data center roadmap has been the subject of rumors—denied by the company—about possible delays. The choice to preview the features of Rosa can be interpreted as a sign of continuity in the roadmap for the years to come.

NOTE: Rigel (also known as β Orionis) is a bright blue supergiant star located about 860 light-years from Earth. It is the seventh brightest star in the night sky.