Linux creator Linus Torvalds called Intel's Advanced Vector Extensions 512 (AVX-512) instruction set a "power virus" that was created just to make the company's CPU hardware perform well in benchmarks, He offered some interesting observations. He also admitted that his assessment was "biased" and "grumpy."

His comments were made on a mailing list (via Phoronix) discussing an article suggesting that AVX-512 may not be included in Intel's upcoming Alder Lake architecture. If it does, Torvalds is fine with that. I hope [AVX512 dies a painful death and Intel starts fixing real problems instead of trying to create magic instructions to make benchmarks that look good... I hope Intel gets back to basics, gets the process running again, and starts working on normal, not HPC or other pointless special cases. I hope they focus more on code," Torvalds said.

Intel introduced AVX-512 in 2013, initially as part of its Xeon Phi x200 and Skylake-X processor lines. It has also been used in the latest CPU architectures, including Ice Lake.

This instruction set is designed to enhance performance in various types of workloads that can benefit from more robust floating-point operations, such as scientific simulation, financial analysis, artificial intelligence, and data compression.

Nevertheless, Torvalds considers the AVX-512 to be an example of "special-case garbage," noting that "nobody cares about floating-point performance except the bench mark."

"I absolutely hate FP benchmarks, and I understand that other people care deeply about them... I think AVX-512 is just wrong. It's a classic example of what Intel has done wrong, and it contributes to the fragmentation of the market, which I hate," Torvalds said.

This is not the first time Torvalds has directed his anger at Intel; in 2018, Torvalds called Intel's Meltdown and Spectre patches "COMPLETE AND UTTER GARBAGE" and emphasized his level of anger in all-caps .

Torvalds is not a patient character.

As he confessed later that same year, he sometimes gets carried away by his emotions. In an open letter, he apologized for his "thoughtless attacks in emails," sometimes of a personal nature, and announced that he was leaving the Linux scene to improve his "unprofessional" behavior. He returned a month later with an e-mail filter to help him maintain self-control.

Two years later, he is still grumpy, but at least his anger is now directed at the company.