What is Intel Panther Lake? Everything I know about the next-gen mobile processor

What is Intel Panther Lake? Everything I know about the next-gen mobile processor

As a tech enthusiast who has been following Intel’s progress for over two decades now, I can confidently say that the reveal of Panther Lake has sent shockwaves through the industry! Just when we were getting comfortable with Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake, here comes Intel with another surprise in 2024. It feels like Intel is playing a game of chess, and we’re all just trying to keep up.


On October 15, 2024, during Lenovo’s Tech World 24 event, CEO Pat Gelsinger unveiled an unexpected surprise – a prototype of Intel’s Panther Lake processor, manufactured in-house using the 18A process. Frankly, I was taken aback because Intel had only just introduced its latest generation of Core Ultra Series 2 mobile chips, codenamed Lunar Lake, in September, right before the IFA Berlin 2024 technology conference.

That exciting new product of ours for 2022, which we’re planning to release following our recent announcement, aims to continue the excellent work we’ve been doing – doesn’t it sound intriguing?

Intel is expected to debut its “upcoming” Core Ultra 200H and 200HX series of powerful Arrow Lake mobile processors shortly, which are the mobile counterparts of the recently announced Core Ultra 200V desktop chip variants under the same codename. So, what does this early peek at Panther Lake tell us, and how does it differ from the flood of cutting-edge x86-64 processors hitting the market?

At present, we have limited solid details, but there are whispers and unusual confirmations about the individual components of Intel’s forthcoming Foveros-based System-on-Chip (SoC). Here’s what I currently know, such as Intel’s intended release schedule, and I will update this page as soon as I receive further information.

When does Intel plan to launch Panther Lake?

What is Intel Panther Lake? Everything I know about the next-gen mobile processor

According to Intel’s Q2 report, they plan to release their Panther Lake chips in the second half of 2025. This is the initial announcement of the chip’s codename. Simultaneously, they provided an update on their “Five Nodes in Four Years” (5N4Y) strategy for their 18A manufacturing process. The designs for Panther Lake chips intended for client devices and Clearwater Forest chips designed for servers will be finalized during the first half of 2025.

What’s new on the the Panther Lake SoC?

What is Intel Panther Lake? Everything I know about the next-gen mobile processor

A peek into the details of Panther Lake was provided when technology enthusiast Jaykihn uncovered a leak in a Coreboot patch update. Coreboot is an open-source BIOS project that focuses on efficiency and security, and this leak seems to have been utilized in some testing setup for experimental processors. The patch listed at least three Thermal Design Power (TDP) values for Panther Lake chips, running at 15W, 25W, and 45W, suggesting these are potential power consumption levels.

It’s important to note that these details could still be subject to change, but Jaykihn later seemed to reveal potential final product codes for the Panther Lake-H mobile processors. The intriguing aspect of this second set is their CPU core architecture and a possible transition to Intel’s upcoming Arc Xe3 discrete GPU tile, known as Celestial. This follows the Xe (DG1) and Xe2 (Battlemage) GPUs, according to Tom’s Hardware.

The leaked SKU details pertain exclusively to Panther Lake-H high-performance chips featuring up to 16 CPU cores. This suggests Intel may introduce a fresh Performance core (P-Core) architecture called Cougar Cove, while the Skymont Efficient core (E-core), known as Lunar Lake before, appears to persist. It’s uncertain whether the Skymont cores will remain unchanged, but it seems probable they might undergo refinement or optimization similar to Arrow Lake’s NPU 3 tile for Meteor Lake.

Regarding the Neural Processing Unit (NPU), the recent Linux update hints at Panther Lake utilizing a brand-new NPU 5 tile, which is a step up from the NPU 4 found in Lunar Lake (as reported by Phoronix). However, specific TOPS performance figures for this updated version are yet to be revealed. Given AMD’s latest NPU performance in its Ryzen AI PRO 300 series chips, it is reasonable to speculate that the new variant might deliver approximately 55 TOPS.

Information about specifications and product codes (SKUs) is based on early suggestions and whispers, so there’s a possibility that things might alter unexpectedly before the launch of Panther Lake next year.

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2024-10-18 17:39