Intel 9th generation Core processors could hit the shelves some time in 2018, after Intel has ironed out supply issues of its current 8th generation Core "Coffee Lake" lineup, and figured out what to do with the unsold 7th generation Core "Kaby Lake" inventory. It has been rumored that the company could increase core-counts across the board again, with the introduction of an eight-core part in the mainstream-desktop lineup, probably to better segment the Core i7 series from the Core i5 series. It's not implausible to expect the next-generation Core i7 MSDT parts to be 8-core/16-thread, and Core i5 MSDT 6-core/12-thread, with 4-core/4-thread or 8-thread Core i3 parts making up the entry-level, which would bring Intel's MSDT lineup on core/thread-count parity with AMD.

The change-log of the latest FinalWire AIDA64 version spells out several 9th generation Core processor model numbers, at least the Core i5 and Core i3 SKUs. The Core i5 lineup includes the i5-9600K, followed by the i5-9600, i5-9500, i5-9400, i5-9400T, i3-9300, i3-9300T, i3-9100, i3-9100T, i3-9000, and i3-9000T, with the "T" extension denoting lower TDP, probably at 35W, while the rest of the lineup has its TDP rated at 65W. The change-log also speaks about Intel's second-wave of Core "Coffee Lake" parts, which launch early-2018, alongside its other 300-series chipset for the platform, such as the H370, B360, and H310.Among the second-wave of Core "Coffee Lake" parts, are the Core i7-8700B. The "B" extension is unusual, and could denote certain enterprise features such as vPro. This could be Intel's answer to AMD Ryzen Pro 1700. Then there's the i7-8700T. This 6-core/12-thread chip sacrifices clock speeds, for a staggeringly low TDP of 35W.

There are also two curiously-named Core i7 SKUs, the i7-8670 and i7-8670T. These two could feature clock speeds lower than the 8700-series band, but retain the i7 moniker to denote support for HyperThreading and 12 MB L3 cache.

The new wave could also include faster Core i5 SKUs, namely the Core i5-8650K and i5-8650T. The i5-8650K is expected to be clocked higher than the i5-8600K. The i5-8650T is expected to be its energy-efficient twin, with a TDP of 35W. It sacrifices nominal-clock while keeping Turbo Boost frequencies close to those of the i5-8650K.

Positioned below the Core i5-8600K, are the i5-8550, i5-8500, i5-8500B, and the i5-8500T (in descending order of clock speeds). The i5-8500B could feature enterprise features, much like the i7-8700B. These 6-core/6-thread chips feature 9 MB of L3 cache.

A band-below the 8500-series, is the Core i5-8420, i5-8420T, i5-8400B, and i5-8400T, which will be among the slowest 6-core/6-thread SKUs from Intel's stable. The i5-8420 could occupy an attractive sub-$200 price point, while being slightly faster than the i5-8400.

The Core i3 lineup is augmented by SKUs slower than the i3-8350K, including the i3-8320, i3-8300T, i3-8200T, i3-8120, i3-8120T, i3-8100T, i3-8020, i3-8020T, i3-8000, and i3-8000T.