Update on Intel's Panther Lake at Computex 2024, Intel Powering Up Intel 18A Wafer Next Week
by Gavin Bonshor on June 4, 2024 11:00 PM EST
During the Intel keynote hosted by CEO Pat Gelsinger, he gave the world a glimpse into the Intel Client roadmap until 2026. Meteor Lake launched last year on that roadmap, and Lunar Lake, which we dived into yesterday as Intel disclosed technical details about the upcoming platform. Pat also presented a wafer on stage, Panther Lake, and he gave some additional information about Intel's forthcoming Panther Lake platform, which is expected in 2025.
We covered Intel's initial announcement about the Panther Lake platform last year. It is set to be Intel's first client platform using its Intel 18A node. Aside from once again affirming that things are on track for a 2026 launch, Pat Gelsinger, Intel's CEO, also confirmed that they will be powering on the first 18A wafer for Panther Lake as early as next week.
| Intel CPU Architecture Generations | |||||
| Alder/Raptor Lake | Meteor Lake |
Lunar Lake |
Arrow Lake |
Panther Lake |
|
| P-Core Architecture | Golden Cove/ Raptor Cove |
Redwood Cove | Lion Cove | Lion Cove | Cougar Cove? |
| E-Core Architecture | Gracemont | Crestmont | Skymont | Crestmont? | Darkmont? |
| GPU Architecture | Xe-LP | Xe-LPG | Xe2 | Xe2? | ? |
| NPU Architecture | N/A | NPU 3720 | NPU 4 | ? | ? |
| Active Tiles | 1 (Monolithic) | 4 | 2 | 4? | ? |
| Manufacturing Processes | Intel 7 | Intel 4 + TSMC N6 + TSMC N5 | TSMC N3B + TSMC N6 | Intel 20A + More | Intel 18A + ? |
| Segment | Mobile + Desktop | Mobile | LP Mobile | HP Mobile + Desktop | Mobile? |
| Release Date (OEM) | Q4'2021 | Q4'2023 | Q3'2024 | Q4'2024 | 2025 |
One element to consider from last year is that Lunar Lake is built using TSMC, with the Lunar Lake compute tile with Xe2-LPG graphics on TSMC N3B, and the I/O tile on TSMC N6. Pat confirmed on stage that Panther Lake will be on Intel 18A. Still, he didn't confirm whether the chip will be made purely at Intel, or a mix between Intel and external foundries (ala Meteor Lake). Intel has also yet to confirm the CPU cores to be used, but from what our sources tell us, it sounds like it will be the new Cougar Cove and Darkmont cores.
As we head into the second half of 2024 and after Lunar Lake launches, Intel may divulge more information, including the architectural advancements Panther Lake is expected to bring. Until then, we will have to wait and see.
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trivik12 - Tuesday, June 4, 2024 - link
Supposed to be Cougar Cove/Darkmont. Darkmont is also used at CWF. Not sure how much of an architectural upgrade it will be from Lion Cove/Skymont but 18A itself brings many goodies(RibbonFet/PowerVia). ReplyDiogene7 - Wednesday, June 5, 2024 - link
I hope that for Panther Lake Intel will try to aim for Intel 18A for the compute tile, and TSMC N3E or N3P for the I/O tile, and also use LPDDR6 memory : all that combined in a Lunar Lake SoC like chip (with memory on-package) would finally significantly lower power consumption (they should aim for 5W max TDP) to enable fanless consumer compute devices !!!For consumer devices, FANLESS design with reasonable performance and good responsiveness, instead of raw performance is likely more enticing !!! Reply
trivik12 - Wednesday, June 5, 2024 - link
I dont think soc tile will benefit from leading edge node. I expect them to stick to N6 for a while and may be even use Intel 7 in 2-3 years once majority of their chips are made outside that node. ReplyKevin G - Wednesday, June 12, 2024 - link
It really depends on what they keep inside the SoC tile. Various accelerators would benefit from a newer node as would various duplicated functionality of the other tiles to enable functionality during sleep states (the Cresmont LPE in Meteor Lake for example). It is a complex balancing act between power consumption, cost and die size.The current wild card is if Intel will spin off NPU functionality off into is own die or move it to another die in the package in future designs. Reply
Eliadbu - Thursday, June 13, 2024 - link
On Lunar Lake, the NPU can access 8MB L3 "SOC cache" that is on the die and can be used by other blocks. Moving it off the compute tile will require some compensation for the worse access time, assuming they will still have that kind of cache block in the future. Replyballsystemlord - Wednesday, June 5, 2024 - link
Fanless with reasonable performance? Currently, it seems people think "reasonable performance" is an i9 at 6Ghz. You can't do that fanless. What you can do, is make applications a bit simpler, with less eyes candy, and in lower level code, so as to lower computational overhead. ReplyGeoffreyA - Thursday, June 6, 2024 - link
Indeed, it seems that no matter how much faster CPUs get, applications and OSes "close the gap" with more overhead. ReplyBlastdoor - Monday, June 10, 2024 - link
Must be a Windows thing. When I replaced my skylake-based iMac with an m2 pro based Mac mini, I didn’t notice too much of a difference in general system and application responsiveness. It’s only when I do computationally intensive things that I see the difference.But Apple has always prioritized QoS in a way that Microsoft has not. Maybe it’s because Microsoft is more focused on making IT departments happy while Apple is focused on users Reply
ballsystemlord - Monday, June 10, 2024 - link
Actually, it's the way they get users to move onto the next platform. After all, if a K6 was fast enough, then how would they get you to buy an R9? If 1GB of RAM is enough, how would they sell you 32GB of RAM? Etc...Granted, there are some computationally intense tasks that really do *need* a more powerful CPU and/or more RAM. But, in general, a lot of things could be done with a lot less computation and memory. Reply
AnnonymousCoward - Tuesday, June 11, 2024 - link
No matter how fast my CPU is, my IT department will install enough bloatware in the background to slow down everything to 486 levels. An actual virus would be better than what they put on. Reply