[Insights] Intel’s Panther Lake Emerges — Can 18A Drive an Advanced-Process Comeback?

With Intel officially unveiling Panther Lake, more details about the processor—its first built on the 18A node—are coming to light. According to Zhu Xi’s column in TechNews, Panther Lake’s performance could determine whether Intel can stage a comeback in advanced process technology.

As TechNews notes, Intel recently revealed additional details about Panther Lake during a closed media briefing. The chip will continue to use a multi-tile architecture, with the CPU tile built on Intel’s most advanced 18A process, the GPU tile reportedly manufactured using TSMC’s N3E process, and the I/O tile still based on TSMC’s N6 node.

Notably, the CPU, fabricated with Intel’s in-house 18A process, is said to deliver performance comparable to Arrow Lake-H while achieving power efficiency on par with Lunar Lake, as TechNews highlights.

Meanwhile, although yield rates were reportedly only around 10% as of this summer, Intel’s ability to stay on schedule for the product launch suggests gradual improvement, TechNews adds.

Panther Lake’s 12-Core GPU Rumored to Rival NVIDIA’s RTX 4050?

The GPU of Panther Lake is expected to bring even more surprises. As TechNews notes, Panther Lake’s graphics unit will be Intel’s first GPU to feature its in-house third-generation Celestial (Xe3) architecture. Intel has also reportedly revised its processor naming convention for this new integrated GPU—any model equipped with the top-tier 12 Xe GPU cores will carry an “X” prefix before its tier designation, such as the flagship Core Ultra “X”9 388H.

While Intel has not disclosed detailed performance metrics for the new integrated GPU, sources cited by TechNews indicate that the 12-core variant could deliver performance approaching that of NVIDIA’s laptop RTX 4050.

Intel’s Panther Lake: A Crucial Test in the Advanced Node Race

So, can Intel truly stage a comeback with Panther Lake? When it comes to the battle over advanced process technology, the answer remains uncertain. TechNews states that everything will ultimately depend on the CPU’s performance, which will only become clear once more details are revealed.

If Panther Lake truly delivers the performance of Arrow Lake and the power efficiency of Lunar Lake, as Intel claims, then the 18A process could indeed give Intel an edge over TSMC in the advanced process race, as TechNews indicates. In addition, since rival AMD has yet to adopt TSMC’s latest N3 process, Panther Lake is also expected to further widen the gap with Strix Point and Kraken Point, particularly in integrated graphics performance.

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(Photo credit: Intel)