Intel Panther Lake CPUs Shown At Embedded World

Yahoo

15-03-2025

Intel's next-generation Panther Lake processors were seen in the silicon flesh at the recent Embedded World show in Nuremberg, Germany. This is the first time the chips have been unveiled since their original debut last year, although they were merely bare dies here; no CPUs were seen in operation. That throws more fuel on the rumors that Intel may struggle to get these Core Ultra 300 processor designs out of the door and into devices before the end of the year.
Intel's next-generation Panther Lake CPUs were first unveiled in 2024, by then-Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger. He outlined plans to launch Panther Lake in the second half of 2025, and Intel has reiterated that is the plan still, even with rumors swirling that full production of the new chips won't take place until 2026. The new CPUs are expected to have a mobile focus, with more low-power efficiency cores to improve idle performance while reducing power demands. They will also come equipped with a new generation of Xe graphics, which should make them much more capable at casual gaming without a dedicated GPU.
The model pictured at Embedded World by PC Games Hardware (via VideoCardz), is the 16 core variant, featuring four Performance (P) cores, eight Efficiency (E) cores, and four low-power-efficiency cores (LPE). The high-end variants will have up to 12 of the new Xe graphics cores, although other variants will have as few as two. Each will also have support for Thunderbolt 4, faster LPDDR5X memory, and include a new neural processor for AI calculations.
Credit: PC Games Hardware
All Panther Lake CPUs will be built on a new core design, on a new Intel 18A process node, which has the potential to raise performance and efficiency over the last-generation designs. However, they will also include outside fabricated parts, with the graphics chip being produced on TSMC's N3E node instead. That isn't common in chip design but will lean into Intel's experience fabricating processors and TSMC's greater experience manufacturing GPUs.
Despite this promising showing of the new chips in the real world, there are still concerns about whether Intel can meet its plans to launch Panther Lake in 2025. The move to 18A is a dramatic one, requiring changes to Intel's fabrication process. It has already faced some delays in 18A fabrication, so any further problems could push the launch of Panther Lake products until much later in the year, potentially into early 2026.
It may be that we see a debut of some new products using these chips as part of an announcement, followed by a wider launch at CES in January next year.