The next generation of Intel processors will be offered as a service.

How old is your device on which you read this post? Most likely, a little, for we change them often. And this is not surprising: the cost of devices and components is falling, their characteristics are constantly improving, and sometimes you just want something new, as a gift. Well, the "old" things have to sell, spending time on it, losing money and, often, experiencing moral suffering. Realizing the scale of the problem, Intel, in the near future, plans to offer a new version of the purchase of its processors - as a service.

The essence of the "Processor as a Service" scheme (Processor as a Service) is that the processor itself (chip in package) is provided completely free of charge. Only its operation is paid, numerically expressed in the form of the total number of processor commands executed.
The instruction counter is already there in every Intel processor (more precisely, in every processor core) - this is a well-known PMU (Performance Monitoring Unit) that can be programmed to count various processor events, including the number of instructions executed (instructions retired), By the way, it is the data from the PMU that is used in the Intel VTune Amplifier performance profiler.
Now the data from the PMU will be a key factor in licensing.

The processor license will include a package of a certain number of prepaid commands, the volume of which is statistically equal to one year of computer operation at home. As we know, once a year there is a change of generations of Intel processors, so now the upgrade will consist only in the exchange of one package for another.
The principle that it is the number of teams that is taken into account, and not, say, operating time, is designed to link the cost of ownership of the processor with the intensity of its operation. If processor resources are often used above the average (for example, during games, video processing, etc.), the starter pack may run out faster - for such cases additional packages are purchased, bought online.


Intel cloud service information flow diagram
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The current meter reading will synchronize with a certain periodicity (in the absence of communication problems - almost in real time) with the Intel cloud service. Data from the cloud service is necessary, for example, if the processor is broken - in this case, the user will be given the same with the last indication stored on the cloud. Cloud storage also allows an assessment of the operational life of each processor, and also provides a user interface (including the ability to purchase packages online). Information related to the user is not transferred to the cloud.

New Intel technology will require support from other components of the computer, and above all - the motherboard, which must have a component to read information from the processor and transfer it to the cloud. However, in the case of using Intel chipsets, compatibility problems will not be accurate: at the same time with new processors, there will be chipsets equipped with all the necessary functionality.


Cloud User Interface

The experiment is just beginning, so it’s impossible to say for sure which classes of various Intel processors will be available as a service. There is no doubt that when trying to implement technology in mobile devices, there will be many technical problems that need to be solved.
But in relation to the server processors Intel Xeon, on the contrary, it looks promising. Business values ​​flexible offers, and if this way it is possible to optimize the cost of ownership of server equipment for any categories of tasks, then demand will surely appear.

The program Processor as a Service starts simultaneously with the start of sales of next-generation desktop processors Broadwell in the first quarter of 2015. It is assumed that initially both licensing options will be available, including the traditional one, however, over time, most processors will be sold as a service.

UPD. Of course, it was an April Fool's Day. Well, all its non-first-April aspects are already sufficiently disclosed in the comments.