What is Intel Panther Lake? Everything I know about the next-gen mobile processor
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In an unexpected reveal on October 15, 2024,CEO Pat Gelsinger used his closing moments at Lenovo’s Tech World 24 eventto hold up a sample of Intel’s Panther Lake processor built on its in-house 18A manufacturing process. To say I was surprised would be an understatement since its current generation ofCore Ultra Series 2 mobile chips, codenamed Lunar Lake, waslaunched as recently as September, just before theIFA Berlin 2024technology conference.
This is our next-year product on 18A that will be launching to build on the great work that we just announced today — isn’t that cool?
Intel will soonlaunch its “planned” Core Ultra 200H and 200HXrange of high-performance Arrow Lake mobile processors, followingbrand-new Core Ultra 200V desktop chipvariants under the same codename, so where does that place this early preview of Panther Lake, and what sets it apart from this influx of ultra-modern x86-64 processors?
Concrete information is slim right now, but there are rumors and unconventional confirmations on the separate tiles that make up Intel’s upcomingFoveros-basedSystem-on-Chip (SoC.)I’ll tell you everything I know, including Intel’s plans for a release window, and update this page once I hear more.
When does Intel plan to launch Panther Lake?
In itsQ2 earnings report, Intel confirmedit’s targeting a Panther Lake launch timeframe in the second half of 2025. This early mention of the chips' codename came alongside an update on Intel Foundry’s"Five Nodes in Four Years" (5N4Y)strategy for its 18A manufacturing process, which will finalize designs of Panther Lake chips for client devices and Clearwater Forest chips for servers sometime in the first half of 2025.
What’s new on the the Panther Lake SoC?
One glimpse into Panther Lake specifications came whentechnology enthusiast Jaykihn discovereda leak within a patch for Coreboot, an open-source BIOS project designed to create firmware that prioritizes efficiency and bolsters security (viaWccftech.) Presumably used in some form of testing environment for prototype processors, the patch listed at least threeThermal Design Power (TDP)values for Panther Lake chips running at 15W, 25W, and 45W.
Of course, these are all speculative and could change before the chips are finalized, butJaykihn later shared apparent “final” SKUsof at least Panther Lake-H mobile processors. The most exciting part of this second batch lies in their CPU core architecture and an apparent move to Intel’s next-generation Arc Xe3 discrete GPU tile codenamed Celestial, which follows Xe (DG1) andXe2 (Battlemage)(viaTom’s Hardware.)
These SKU leaks so far refer only to Panther Lake-H (high-performance) chips with up to 16 CPU cores but point to Intel adopting a brand new Performance core (P-Core) architecture codenamed Cougar Cove, while the sameSkymont Efficient core (E-core) codename carries over from Lunar Lake. Whether or not that means the Skymont cores will remain untouched isn’t clear, but it seems likely to be refined or optimized in the same way Meteor Lake’sNPU 3 tile was for Arrow Lake.
Speaking of theNeural Processing Unit (NPU), recent Linux patch notes exposed that Panther Lake will adopt an all-new NPU 5 tile, following theNPU 4 seen in Lunar Lake(viaPhoronix.) There haven’t been any details on aTOPS performance ratingfor this new variant, but it’s reasonable to assume it will be around 55 TOPS, matchingAMD’s latest NPU in its Ryzen AI PRO 300 chips.
Everything related to specifications and SKUs comes from extremely early hints and rumors, so anything could change without warning before Panther Lake’s launch next year.
Ben is a Senior Editor at Windows Central, covering everything related to technology hardware and software. He regularly goes hands-on with the latest Windows laptops, components inside custom gaming desktops, and any accessory compatible with PC and Xbox. His lifelong obsession with dismantling gadgets to see how they work led him to pursue a career in tech-centric journalism after a decade of experience in electronics retail and tech support.
