AVX-512

AVX-512 are 512-bit extensions to the 256-bit Advanced Vector Extensions SIMD instructions for x86 instruction set architecture (ISA) proposed by Intel in July 2013, and first implemented in the 2016 Intel Xeon Phi x200 (Knights Landing),^[1] and then later in a number of AMD and other Intel CPUs (see list below). AVX-512 consists of multiple extensions that may be implemented independently.^[2] This policy is a departure from the historical requirement of implementing the entire instruction block. Only the core extension AVX-512F (AVX-512 Foundation) is required by all AVX-512 implementations.

Besides widening most 256-bit instructions, the extensions introduce various new operations, such as new data conversions, scatter operations, and permutations.^[2] The number of AVX registers is increased from 16 to 32, and eight new "mask registers" are added, which allow for variable selection and blending of the results of instructions. In CPUs with the vector length (VL) extension—included in most AVX-512-capable processors (see § CPUs with AVX-512)—these instructions may also be used on the 128-bit and 256-bit vector sizes. AVX-512 is not the first 512-bit SIMD instruction set that Intel has introduced in processors: the earlier 512-bit SIMD instructions used in the first generation Xeon Phi coprocessors, derived from Intel's Larrabee project, are similar but not binary compatible and only partially source compatible.^[1]