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Intel is banking on its 18A process to drive a turnaround, with high expectations surrounding its first client product on the node—Panther Lake. According to Wccftech, the company unveiled its next-generation Panther Lake CPU silicon at Computex, demonstrating it across multiple platforms.
Intel’s Panther Lake CPUs remain on schedule for production in the second half of 2025, with a consumer-ready launch through OEMs expected in early 2026, as Wccftech indicates.
As noted by Tom’s Hardware, Intel plans to expand its AI PC product lineup in 2025 while sending samples of its “lead 18A product” — the Panther Lake processor — to its customers. Tom’s Hardware highlights the importance of Panther Lake to Intel, as 70% of its production will be handled in-house, offering significantly higher profit margins.
Architecture and Scalability
Notably, as highlighted by Wccftech, Panther Lake not only introduces new CPU core technologies but also adopts the Xe3 “Celestial” architecture, integrating faster GPU and NPU capabilities. This design enables broader scalability across consumer, gaming, and commercial products, with support for both LPDDR5 and DDR5 memory.
Five-Tile Design Unveiled at Computex
As noted by Wccftech, the Panther Lake silicon showcased at Computex features a five-tile architecture. The Compute Tile takes up most of the die area, housing Cougar Cove performance cores (P-Cores) and Darkmont efficiency cores (E-Cores). The remaining tiles include the GPU, SoC, and I/O tiles, along with a smaller filler tile, according to the report.
As Wccftech notes, Team Blue also showcased several laptops powered by Panther Lake CPUs. Compared to Lunar Lake, Panther Lake offers significantly improved AI performance—an expected gain, as former CEO Pat Gelsinger previously stated the new chips would deliver a 2x boost in AI capabilities, the report notes.
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(Photo credit: Intel)
