Red Hat, Intel Push CPUs for Cheaper AI Inference

As enterprises scale AI beyond pilot projects, Red Hat and Intel are championing a balanced CPU-GPU approach to reduce inference costs. Their collaboration brings full vLLM support for Intel Xeon to Red Hat AI 3.4, targeting scalable, cost-efficient deployments. Many agentic AI tasks like tool calling and data orchestration don't require GPUs at all, freeing expensive GPU capacity for heavier workloads. Red Hat's Taneem Ibrahim and Intel's Bill Pearson argue that leveraging existing CPU infrastructure is key to driving down cost per token and operationalizing AI at scale.