Intel held a release party on Tuesday for its Meteor Lake, the processor that goes on sale December 14. But if you’re trying to decide whether you should stick with Intel-powered Windows laptops or upgrade to Apple’s efficient and powerful new MacBooks. , pay attention to the other three processors in preparation.
At Intel’s innovation conference, CEO Pat Gelsinger touted a series of new processors expected to arrive in 2024 and 2025. The first are Arrow Lake and Lunar Lake. Then, in 2025, will come Panther Lake, whose design is “well underway,” Gelsinger said, confirming a rumored code name.
In an effort to show that the products are not vaporware, Gelsinger showed off a prototype Lunar Lake computer, an unsightly blue box marked “Lab CSF” and featuring technical controls such as “clear cache” and “virtual battery.” » which you will not see on your computer. Average PC. And he held up a wafer built with the Intel 18A, the manufacturing process that the company hopes will restore the chipmaking leadership it lost to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and Samsung .
These and other technology demonstrations bode well for a company that has struggled for years, said James Sanders, an analyst at CCS Insight. “You can definitely say there’s a sense again that Intel is an engineering-led company again,” Sanders said. “That’s the image they have to give after being run for years by accountants.”
At its Innovation Conference, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger showed off a prototype PC powered by its Lunar Lake processor and running a demo of generative AI software.
Intel has supplied Apple with processors for its Macs for years, but Apple kicked out Intel and moved to its own M series of processors, more powerful variants of the same chips that power iPhones and iPads. The MacBook M1 and M2 were praised for their speed and long battery life, and Intel executives recognized that improving both attributes was a top priority. Intel hasn’t revealed Meteor Lake performance details, but the company promises improvements in processing, graphics, and AI performance.
Intel manufacturing facilities, or fabs, will begin building the first Panther Lake processors in the first quarter of 2024, Gelsinger said.
“This is Intel 18A, the finish line of our five nodes in four years,” he said, referring to the company’s efforts to rapidly move toward new manufacturing process improvements in order to become competitive again.
At the Intel Innovation conference, CEO Pat Gelsinger holds a wafer built with the Intel 18A manufacturing process that the company hopes will restore its chip manufacturing leadership.
Intel also showed off new Xeon processors for the giant data centers that run the tech giants’ cloud computing services, announced that Stability.ai would buy its Gaudi AI accelerators, and touted new substrate technology of glass that he says will make processors faster and more energy efficient. and larger later in the decade.
