Optimized intelligence is redefining how enterprises approach AI workloads, signaling a shift away from the GPU-first mindset that has dominated recent years. As AI adoption surges, companies are prioritizing architecture that aligns with specific use cases, delivering smarter performance, lower costs and greater trust across hybrid and multicloud environments.

Key conversations across the industry now center on aligning hardware and software roadmaps, scaling AI while managing total cost of ownership and preparing for next-generation technologies such as quantum computing. The collaboration between SAS Institute Inc. and Intel Corp. reflects these priorities, emphasizing workload-specific acceleration, ethical AI practices and human-centered design that ensures confidence in real-world outcomes, according to Muge Tanik (pictured, right), general manager for AI solutions and partnerships at Intel Corp.

SAS’ John Carey and Intel’s Muge Tanik talk to theCUBE about optimized intelligence.

“There was a misconception in the marketplace that all the AI workloads work on GPU only and also gen AI equals GPU, which is not correct,” Tanik explained. “We look at the frameworks, we look at the data type, the accuracy of the data, we look at the inference performances. Our platforms have shown very promising and competitive results on all these platforms. We are extremely excited and proud.”

Tanik and John Carey (left), vice president of global channels at SAS, spoke with theCUBE’s Rebecca Knight at SAS Innovate, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed how SAS and Intel are advancing AI through optimized intelligence, shifting beyond GPU-first thinking to deliver workload-specific performance, cost efficiency and future-ready innovation. (* Disclosure below.)

SAS and Intel advance AI with optimized intelligence

SAS and Intel’s 25-year partnership is built around optimized intelligence, with both companies investing deeply in technical alignment to ensure hardware and software co-evolve. By integrating Intel’s silicon innovations, such as AMX acceleration, trusted compute and Gaudi GPUs, SAS delivers consistent, cost-conscious performance on Viya, its AI and analytics platform. This relationship enables clients to deploy advanced models across sectors such as financial services and public sector without overspending on infrastructure, according to Tanik.

“We have this roadmap alignment, but AI is the key focus for us,” she said. “Viya has been showing great performance on [the] latest Intel platforms. We have seen like [a] 24% performance increase of Viya for the speed test, and we have seen [a] 94% increase of Viya performance on throughput tests.”

At the engineering level, SAS and Intel maintain a feedback loop that allows SAS to shape chip design before finalization. This iterative co-development ensures real-world needs are considered before products hit the market. SAS’s R&D teams use Intel’s latest hardware to unlock new parameters for AI acceleration, allowing faster deployment of models that drive business value, without requiring customers to overhaul their existing infrastructure unless absolutely necessary, Carey explained.

“When these guys send over hardware to our R&D, it’s like Christmas morning,” he said. “These are the gifts that keep on giving because they allow our team to get really excited about the new parameters that they can open up, the new acceleration, how they can solve those problems and take full advantage of all of the new innovation that Intel is doing on the chip set.”

This hands-on, customer-first approach underpins both firms’ belief in a flexible, consultative AI roadmap. Rather than pushing high-powered GPUs by default, SAS and Intel assess customer goals, workload types and existing investments to offer tailored solutions, whether that means CPUs, accelerators or hybrid cloud infrastructure.

“One size does not fit all. Everything starts with the workload, and everything starts with what pain points that customer is trying to solve,” Tanik said. “We offer alternatives to the customers and we meet them where they are.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of SAS Innovate:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for SAS Innovate. Neither SAS Institute Inc., the sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE