IT Home, October 13 news: Technology media Tom's Hardware posted a blog yesterday (October 12) stating that Intel Xeon Diamond Rapids will be the last generation of Xeon processors to support SGX, with the focus for confidential computing shifting to TDX thereafter.
IT Home note: SGX stands for Software Guard Extensions, a hardware security feature by Intel that creates protected enclaves within applications.
It isolates specific code and data from the operating system, hypervisor, and other software, commonly used to protect keys, user data, or sensitive business logic. Existing SGX platforms will receive security updates and support until the early 2030s, giving customers time to migrate.
TDX stands for Trust Domain Extensions, a confidential computing technology from Intel designed for virtual machines. While SGX typically requires developers to modify or specifically design applications, TDX isolates the entire virtual machine from the underlying host environment and other virtual machines, enabling enterprises to run existing applications on cloud servers without extensive software modifications.
Intel stated that TDX offers greater scalability, easier deployment, and aligns with the operational model required for large-scale confidential computing. Intel plans to expand TDX capabilities by adding TDX Connect trusted I/O, post-quantum cryptography, and enhanced attestation mechanisms. Trusted I/O protects data transmission between virtual machines and accelerators or peripherals.
In agent AI scenarios, TDX enables multiple agents to run in hardware-isolated virtual machine environments on shared infrastructure. Intel also collaborates with NVIDIA to coordinate confidential computing technologies for CPUs and GPUs, extending protection to sensitive data and AI models.
Intel TDX has been launched by major cloud service providers, including Alibaba Cloud, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Volcano Cloud. Meanwhile, Red Hat, Canonical, and VMware are adding TDX support to their software platforms to facilitate its adoption in private and enterprise cloud environments.