Rejoice, Gungeoneers! Kaliber has heard your prayers! Enter the Gungeon 2 is in active development and will be coming to PC (Steam) and Nintendo Switch 2 in 2026. You can wishlist it now, even if you don't own a PC. Enter the Gungeon 2 is a reloaded, high-caliber sequel, enhanced with a new 3D art style, new weapons, new enemies, and expanded gameplay. Battle through familiar and unknown areas of the ruined Gungeon, uncovering secrets and mastering powerful weapons while destroying legions of Gundead, previously confined to the 2D plane. Choose from an expanding roster of Gungeoneers, new and old, rescue marooned heroes, and grow stronger through powerful passive and active items, blessings, curses, and your mastery of a vast arsenal of weapons.

And seek to understand why you find yourself under assault in the Gungeon once again…We're thrilled to finally reveal Enter the Gungeon 2—you've been asking for it for so long! But please note we're still in the midst of development, so we can't share too much just yet. In the meantime, we've set up an official Discord server for Dodge Roll, and we'd love to hear your thoughts on the announcement. Join to share your feedback, get updates directly from the team, enjoy giveaways, and hang out with other Gungeoneers.

Mark Gurman—Bloomberg's resident soothsayer of Apple inside track info—has disclosed predictive outlooks for next-generation M5 chip-based MacBooks. Early last month, we experienced the launch of the Northern Californian company's M4 MacBook Air series—starting at $999; also available in a refreshing metallic blue finish. The latest iteration of Apple's signature "extra slim" notebook family arrived with decent performance figures. As per usual, press and community attention has turned to a potential successor. Gurman's (March 30) Power On newsletter posited that engineers are already working on M5-powered super slim sequels—he believes that these offerings will arrive early next year, potentially reusing the current generation's 15-inch and 13-inch fanless chassis designs.

In a mid-February predictive report, Gurman theorized that Apple was planning a major overhaul of the MacBook Pro design. A radical reimagining of the long-running notebook series—that reportedly utilizes M6 chipsets and OLED panels—is a distant prospect; perhaps later on in 2026. The Cupertino-headquartered megacorp is expected to stick with its traditional release cadence, so 2025's "M5" refresh of MacBook Pro models could trickle out by October. Insiders believe that Apple will reuse existing MacBook Pro shells—the last major redesign occurred back in 2021. According to early February reportage, mass production of the much-rumored M5 chip started at some point earlier in the year. Industry moles posit that a 3 nm (N3P) node process was on the order books, chez TSMC foundries.

Intel's freshly concluded Vision 2025 "Products Update and GTM" showcase included a segment dedicated to forthcoming Core Ultra 300 "Panther Lake" client processors. Industry watchdogs have grabbed a select few screenshots from Team Blue's broadcast from Las Vegas, Nevada—one backdropped slide confirms that Intel's next-generation mobile CPU series will launch in 2026. This information mirrors the company's Chinese office presenting of an AI PC roadmap—coverage of last month's event highlighted a scheduled first quarter 2026 "volume" arrival of "Core Ultra Next-gen Panther Lake (18A)."

Going back to early March, Intel leadership refuted online rumors of "Panther Lake" mobile CPUs being delayed into 2026, due to alleged problems encountered during the development of the Foundry service's 18A process node. An interviewed executive repeatedly insisted that his firm's brand-new series was on track for release within the second half of 2025. Fast-forward to the end of last week; Lip-Bu Tan expressed a similar outlook in a letter addressed to investors. The newly-established boss stated: "we will further enhance our (leadership) position in the second half of this year with the launch of Panther Lake, our lead product on Intel 18A, followed by Nova Lake in 2026." Industry insiders propose that the Core Ultra 300 series will become available in a very limited capacity come October, via an Early Enablement Program (EEP). Returning to this week—Jim Johnson, senior vice president of the firm's Client Computing Group, informed a watchful audience about the merits of his group's design: "I'm personally excited about Panther Lake because it combines the power efficiency of Lunar Lake, the performance of Arrow Lake, and is built to scale 18A and is on track for production later this year...Our client roadmap is the most innovative we've ever had, and we are far from done."

In a letter to customers, Micron has announced upcoming memory price increases extending through 2025 and 2026, citing persistent supply constraints coupled with accelerating demand across its product portfolio. The manufacturer points to significant demand growth in DRAM, NAND flash, and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) segments as key drivers behind the pricing strategy. The memory market is rebounding from a prolonged oversupply cycle that previously depressed revenues industry-wide. Strategic production capacity reductions implemented by major suppliers have contributed to price stabilization and subsequent increases over the past twelve months. This pricing trajectory is expected to continue as data center operators, AI deployments, and consumer electronics manufacturers compete for limited memory allocation.

In communications to channel partners, Micron emphasized AI and HPC requirements as critical factors necessitating the price adjustments. The company has requested detailed forecast submissions from partners to optimize production planning and supply chain stability during the constrained market period. With its pricing announcement, Micron disclosed a $7 billion investment in a Singapore-based HBM assembly facility. The plant will begin operations in 2026 and will focus on HBM3E, HBM4, and HBM4E production—advanced memory technologies essential for next-generation AI accelerators and high-performance computing applications from NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, and other companies. The price increases could have cascading effects across the AI and GPU sector, potentially raising costs for products ranging from consumer gaming systems to enterprise data infrastructure. We are monitoring how these adjustments will impact hardware refresh cycles and technology adoption rates as manufacturers pass incremental costs to end customers.

Russian and Belarusian semiconductor manufacturers have achieved a significant milestone in domestic chip production capabilities. In collaboration with Belarus-based Planar, the Zelenograd Nanotechnology Center (ZNTC) has developed a new lithography system supporting 350 nm process technology for 8-inch (200 mm) silicon wafers. This development represents a strategic response to Western sanctions severely restricting Russia's access to advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment. The system employs solid-state laser technology to project circuit patterns onto photoresist-coated wafers through a photomask that defines the circuitry. After selective exposure, the photoresist undergoes chemical processing to build circuit structures. While the 350 nm node marks a critical capability for domestic semiconductor production, it sits almost three decades behind leading-edge fabrication processes in high-performance computing applications.

This technology is comparable to what powered Intel's Pentium II processors in the late 1990s. Despite this technological gap, the equipment will enable the production of various electronic components suitable for consumer electronics and certain specialized military applications where bleeding-edge performance isn't required. ZNTC has already outlined plans to develop a more advanced 130 nm lithography system by 2026 as part of a government-backed initiative to incrementally enhance domestic semiconductor capabilities. While unable to match the 3-5 nm processes currently deployed by global semiconductor leaders, this lithography system establishes a foundation for domestic chip manufacturing infrastructure, especially in the category of mature nodes. The success of this intermediate solution will likely influence government funding priorities as the country attempts to narrow the technological gap with Western semiconductor capabilities in the coming years.

TSMC is reconfiguring its US strategy after a challenging start at its Fab 21 facility near Phoenix, Arizona. The company's initial module took nearly five years to move from groundbreaking to production—far longer than the typical two-year process observed in Taiwan. Early setbacks, including labor issues, rising costs, and cultural differences, slowed progress, but these hurdles have provided valuable lessons. With a clearer understanding of the local construction environment, TSMC plans to speed up future projects. Company executives have identified reliable local contractors and addressed many bottlenecks that once hindered progress. As a result, the Taiwanese maker is gearing up to accelerate construction timelines for its upcoming modules. Notably, TSMC intends to start building its third fab—Fab 21 module 3—this year, aiming for a pace similar to that in Taiwan.

In the current phase, TSMC is finalizing equipment installations for Fab 21 module 1 while laying the groundwork for module 2. The plan is to begin trial production of advanced 3 nm-class chips at module 2 in 2026, with high-volume manufacturing expected to kick off by 2028. The accelerated schedule for module 3 is seen as a pathway to faster production of next-generation chips, including those using the N2-series and A16 process technologies. However, rapid construction is not without risks. A critical concern remains the timely procurement of essential fab tools. Leading suppliers such as ASML and Applied Materials face significant backlogs and capacity constraints, which may delay the delivery of necessary equipment. As TSMC vows to build its US capacity more swiftly, the entire supply chain is watching closely to see if these supply chain challenges can be resolved, ensuring that the company meets its ambitious production timelines while expanding its foothold in the American market.

CD Projekt RED unveiled its primary development project late last year: The Witcher IV. A pre-rendered cinematic trailer—utilizing a highly-customized Unreal Engine 5 build running on mystery NVIDIA GPU—showcased next-generation visuals. As revealed by NVIDIA in the new year, a GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card acted as the processing conduit for CD Projekt Red's fantasy featurette. Months later, company leadership has divulged a very loose timeframe for the highly-anticipated sequel's eventual launch. During a recent call with investors—exploring financial results from 2024, and future forecasts—the company expects profits to climb consistently over the next three years. As highlighted by many news reports, long-term franchise fans will need to remain patient—CD Projekt's calendar for next year seems to be free of forthcoming AAA content: "even though we do not plan to release The Witcher 4 by the end of 2026, we are still driven by this financial goal."

Given the Polish company's flagship branch kicking into a "full production" high gear phase around late 2024, a project on the (triple-A+) scale of The Witcher IV would require a long gestation period. Renewed online theories have placed a potential release window somewhere in 2027, possibly coinciding with the rollout of next-gen consoles. A noted industry soothsayer and veteran games journalist—Jason Schreier (resident at Bloomberg)—weighed in on the matter. He has dismissed many predictive reports about The Witcher IV arriving in 2026, as well as Naughty Dog's "The Heretic Prophet"—commenting on this topic, he stated: "I'm pretty sure I said they were both going to be very early teases. Neither of those games will be out next year." Piotr Nielubowicz—CD Projekt's chief financial officer—did not go into specifics during his firm's recently concluded earnings call: "we are not going to announce the precise launch date for the game yet. All we could share now to give more visibility to investors is that the game will not be launched within the time frame of the first target for the incentive program, which ends December 31, 2026."

Last week, South Korean semiconductor industry moles let slip about the development of an "Exynos 2600" mobile chipset at Samsung Electronics. This speculative flagship processor was linked to the manufacturer's (inevitable) launch of Galaxy S26 smartphone models in early 2026. Despite rumors of the firm's Foundry service making decent progress with their preparation of a cutting-edge 2 nm Gate-All-Around (GAA) node, certain critics reckon that Samsung will be forced into signing another (less than ideal) chip supply deal with Qualcomm. According to The Bell SK's latest news report, Samsung's LSI Division is working with plenty of determination—an alleged main goal being the next wave of top-end Galaxy smartphones deployed next year with in-house tech onboard.

Inside sources propose that Samsung's Exynos 2600 SoC needs to be "finished by the middle of the third quarter of this year," thus ensuring the release of in-house chip-powered Galaxy S26 devices. It is not clear whether this forecast refers to a finalized design or the start of mass production. The latest whispers regarding another proprietary next-gen mobile processor—Exynos 2500—paint a murky picture. Past leaks indicated possible avenues heading towards forthcoming Galaxy Z Flip 7 and Fold 7 smartphone models. The latest reports have linked this design to a mature 4 nm process and eventual fitting inside affordable "Galaxy Z Flip FE" Enterprise Edition SKUs. The Bell contacted one of its trusted sources—the unnamed informant observed that everything is in flux: "Exynos 2500 production plan is constantly changing...I thought it was certain, but I heard that the possibility has recently decreased slightly." Reportedly, Samsung employees have their plates full with plenty of simultaneous projects in 2025.

AMD's next-generation Zen 6-based "Medusa Point" mobile APUs will not feature RDNA 4 graphics as previously speculated, according to recent code discoveries in AMD GPUOpen Drivers on GitHub. The Device ID "GfxIp12" associated with RDNA 4 architecture has been reserved only for discrete GPUs, confirming that the current Radeon RX 9000 series will exclusively implement AMD's latest graphics architecture. Current technical documentation indicates AMD will instead extend RDNA 3.5 implementation beyond the Zen 5 portfolio while potentially positioning UDNA as the successor technology for integrated graphics.

The chiplet-based Medusa Point design will reportedly pair a single 12-core Zen 6 CCD manufactured on TSMC's 3 nm-class node with a mobile client I/O die likely built on N4P. This arrangement is significantly different from current monolithic mobile solutions. Earlier speculation indicates the Medusa Point platform may support 3D V-Cache variants, leveraging the same vertical stacking methodology employed in current Zen 5 implementations. The mobile processor's memory controllers and neural processing unit are expected to receive substantial updates. However, compatibility limitations with AMD's latest graphics features, like FSR 4 technology, remain a concern due to the absence of RDNA 4 silicon. The Zen 6-powered Medusa Point processor family is scheduled for release in 2026, targeting premium mobile computing applications with a performance profile that builds upon AMD's current Strix Halo positioning.

According to an attendee of a recent Intel AI presentation, company representatives revealed a release timeline for next-gen Core Ultra "Panther Lake" mobile processor family. Team Blue's China office appears to be courting users of DeepSeek R1, as evidenced by meng59739449's sharing of a processor product roadmap (machine translated by VideoCardz). A volume launch of Core Ultra 300 "Panther Lake-H" series seems to be on the cards for Q1 2026. Earlier this month, an Intel executive insisted that Panther Lake was on track for a second half of 2025 roll out. Lately, industry moles have alleged that a "problematic 18A node" process has caused delays across new generation product lines.

Team Blue watchdogs reckon that high volume manufacturing (HVM) of Panther Lake chips will kick off in September. By October, an Early Enablement Program (EEP) is expected to start—with samples sent off to OEMs for full approval. Industry experts believe that Intel will following a familiar pattern of "announcing the processor in the second half of the prior year, but ramping up mass production in the following year." Previous generation mobile CPU platforms—Meteor Lake and Lunar Lake—received similar treatment in the recent past. Last week, a Panther Lake-H (PTL-H) sample was on general display at Embedded World 2025—the German office is similarly engaged in hyping up the AI-crunching capabilities of roadmapped products.

BlizzCon is back! The ultimate celebration of our games and the community that unites us is returning to the Anaheim Convention Center Saturday, September 12, and Sunday, September 13, in 2026. One of our favorite traditions, BlizzCon brings us together over our shared passion for Blizzard's universes, but at its heart, BlizzCon has always been about so much more. It's about you, the communities you are a part of, and gives us the chance to connect, build friendships, and create unforgettable memories together.

We've come a long way since our first event in 2005. Over the past nearly 20 years since its inception, BlizzCon has inspired us to innovate, push the boundaries of creativity, and deliver once-in-a-lifetime moments. It's important that we put on an event worthy of our community. For 2026, alongside BlizzCon staples like Opening Ceremony, in-depth panels, the Darkmoon Faire, friendly competition, hands-on gameplay, and more, we aim to meaningfully elevate this iconic celebration and create an unforgettable experience for all who take part in it. We are building this event just like we build our games: with a deep commitment to our players, with respect for your connections to our universes, and as a celebration of the strength of the bonds formed through shared adventure.

Earlier in the week, online chatter pointed to a possible delay in the production of Panther Lake silicon. Well-known industry analyst—Ming-Chi Kuo—has kept tabs on the inner workings of several big semiconductor players. A previous insider tale revealed NVIDIA's allegedly revised "Blackwell" architecture roadmap. Kuo's latest insight focused on Intel and their 18A node process; rumored setbacks have reportedly pushed the launch of next-gen Panther Lake (PTL) mobile processors into 2026. Team Blue leadership has already reacted to the relatively fresh allegations—earlier in the week, John Pitzer sat down with Morgan Stanley Semiconductor Research's Joe Moore. During their conference fireside chat, Intel's Corporate Vice President of Investor Relations addressed recent internet whispers.

When asked about 18A being developed on schedule, Pitzer responded with: "yes, it is. I mean, I tend to wake up every morning trying to fish through rumors that are coming across on social media about Intel 18A. I want to be very clear. Panther Lake is on track to launch in the second half of this year. That launch date has not changed. We feel really good about the progress that we are making. In fact, if you look at where our yields are on Panther Lake today, they're actually slightly ahead at a similar point in time to Meteor Lake, if you look at the development process for Meteor Lake. I think a couple of weeks ago, there was a technical paper out that actually looked at our SRAM density on Intel 18A that compared well with TSMC's N2. Lots of different metrics you can compare technologies on. I think in general, we think about Intel 18A being an N3 type/N2 sort of comp with the external peers." Panther Lake is set to become the company's first product family that will utilize its own Foundry's 18A node process. Mid-way through February, we heard about the importance of PTL with Intel's portable gaming strategy.

A famous philosopher once said that cosmic forces coalesce during each rotation of the Earth around the Sun, calling forth a Nacon Connect from the aether. I for one, am not a man who questions the wisdom of unnamed famous philosophers or things that strangers tell me on the internet. Jokes aside, what I can tell you is that the 2025 edition of Nacon Connect was an absolute banger. And for those of you who missed it, let me share with you some of the biggest reveals and most exciting news from the show.

Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss
Having trouble sleeping again? Like a nightmare from which you never awake; Nacon Connect started with the reveal of Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss. With conflict over Earth's dwindling resources, corporations turn to the depths of the ocean, unaware of the horrors that lie beneath the surface of the waves. Dive into the depths of the Pacific, investigating the disappearance of a group of miners with the help of your AI companion, Key, all the while resisting the calls of Cthulhu as you desperately cling to your sanity.

Xbox has pushed back the launch of its awaited Fable remake, instead of coming out in 2025, it's now set to hit shelves in 2026. Craig Duncan, who took charge of Xbox Game Studios, broke this news on the latest episode of the Official Xbox Podcast. Playground Games, the team behind Forza Horizon, has the job of making the new Fable game as they told us about it back in 2020.

"We previously announced the date for Fable as 2025. We are actually going to give Fable more time, and it's going to ship in 2026 now," Duncan explained. "While I know that's not maybe the news people want to hear, what I want to assure people of is that it's definitely worth the wait." On the podcast, Duncan showed us some early game footage. He said it's "the prettiest version of Albion you've ever laid eyes on". Even though it's taking longer for Fable to be released, Microsoft's game branch looks strong with big games coming soon such as South of Midnight Doom: The Dark Ages (out in May), The Outer Worlds 2, and Ninja Gaiden 4.Xbox podcast follows:

Under normal circumstances, Grand Theft Auto VI-related leaks have emerged from nefarious sources. Mid-February news reports have pulled information from an unlikely, yet fairly legitimate announcement. GTA franchise fans would not expect a leak to emerge from a company dealing in peripherals, but Corsair Gaming's Ronald van Veen disclosed a slightly surprising prediction during a recent company call with investors. The organization's financial VP believes that incoming AAA-blockbuster title will launch on PC mere months after an exclusive debut on home gaming consoles (PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series). Famously, Rockstar Games reserves a sizable time gap between its console and PC rollouts. An official statement—made back in December 2023—revealed a potential repeat of this release cadence; PC-bound GTA players feared another agonizing two to three year wait.

During an earnings call, Corsair's finance chief discussed the impact of high-profile franchises: "in terms of new games, I mean, there's been a steady stream of games. What we really haven't had for the last year or two is what we could call a 'Fortnite moment' or 'PUBG moment.' So, people are typically playing older games. And I think for our component business and for people looking at new cards, obviously, that tends to depend on new games that are super demanding that you need high-performance graphics in order to get 60 frames a second...If you actually look at the numbers across the last five years, peripheral sales are substantially up, like 50% or 60% up compared to pre-COVID. So, more people are gaming, but not all are gaming on new games. The activity around PC builds or gaming PC builds is roughly on par with pre-COVID now....GTA VI is probably the one everyone is talking about. And we'll get a glimpse of that, I think, later in the year for console. My understanding now it's going to come out in the fall for console, and then early 2026 for PC." Take-Two's CEO—Strauss Zelnick—believes that Grand Theft Auto VI will boost consoles sales upon launch.

IBM and Lenovo today announced at LEAP 2025 a planned expansion of their strategic technology partnership designed to help scale the impact of generative AI for clients in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. IDC expects annual worldwide spending on AI-centric systems to surpass $300 billion by 2026, with many leading organizations in Saudi Arabia exploring and investing in generative AI use cases as they prepare for the emergence of an "AI everywhere" world.

Building upon their 20-year partnership, IBM and Lenovo will collaborate to deliver AI solutions comprised of technology from the IBM watsonx portfolio of AI products, including the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) open-source Arabic Large Language Model (ALLaM), and Lenovo infrastructure. These solutions are expected to help government and business clients in the Kingdom to accelerate their use of AI to improve public services and make data-driven decisions in areas such as fraud detection, public safety, customer service, code modernization, and IT operations.

Intel's upcoming "Nova Lake" desktop processors are taking shape slowly, featuring a three-tier core design that could reach 52 total cores. Set for 2026, the flagship SKU combines 16 "Coyote Cove" P-cores with 32 "Arctic Wolf" E-cores, supplemented by 4 LPE-cores for background task management. Intel is reportedly also considering 28-core (8P + 16E + 4LPE), and 16-core (4P + 8E + 4LPE) SKUs too. The architectural design choice centers on Intel's hybrid manufacturing approach, leveraging both its internal 14A node and TSMC's 2 nm process technology. This strategic decision addresses supply chain resilience while potentially enabling higher yields for critical compute tiles. Intel's interim co-CEO Michelle Johnston Holthaus noted that Intel Foundry will need to earn Intel Product's trust with each new node, so if a node is not the best for their in-house IP, Intel will move to TSMC for production.

Initial engineering samples are already circulating among developers, according to shipping documentation from NBD, suggesting the validation phase is proceeding on schedule. Some specifications point to significant cache improvements, with documentation suggesting a 144 MB L3 cache implementation. However, the cache topology—whether unified or segmented—remains unspecified. The platform is expected to support PCIe Gen 6.0, though Intel has yet to confirm socket compatibility or memory specifications. However, we need to hold our expectations low. Previously unrealized configurations in Intel's roadmaps, like 40-core "Arrow Lake," never materialized, and instead, we got an eight-P-core version with 16 E-cores, totaling 24 cores. Final specifications may evolve as the platform progresses through development phases.

Intel has officially announced that its "Clearwater Forest" Xeon processor family will be arriving somewhere in the first half of 2026. During a recent earnings call, interim co-CEO—Michelle Johnston Holthaus—discussed Team Blue's product roadmap for 2025 and beyond: "this year is all about improving Intel Xeon's competitive position as we fight harder to close the gap to the competition. The ramp of Granite Rapids has been a good first step. We are also making good progress on Clearwater Forest, our first Intel 18A server product that we plan to launch in the first half of next year." Press outlets have (correctly) pointed out that Intel's "Clearwater Forest" Xeon processors were originally slated for release in 2025, so the company's executive branch has seemingly admitted—in a low-key manner—that their next-gen series is delayed. Industry whispers from last autumn posit that Team Blue foundries were struggling with their proprietary 18A (1.8 nm) node process—at the time, watchdogs predicted a postponement of "Clearwater Forest" server processors.

The original timetable had "Clearwater Forest" server CPUs arriving not long after the launch of Intel's latest line of "Sierra Forest" products—288-core models from the Xeon 6-series. The delay into 2026 could be beneficial—The Register proposes that "Xeons bristling with E-cores" have not found a large enough audience. Holthaus disclosed a similar sentiment (in the Q4 earnings call): "what we've seen is that's more of a niche market, and we haven't seen volume materialize there as fast as we expected." Despite rumors swirling around complications affecting chip manufacturing volumes, Intel's temporary co-leaders believe that things are going well. David Zinsner—Team Blue's CFO—stated: "18A has been an area of good progress...Like any new process, there have been ups and downs along the way, but overall, we are confident that we are delivering a competitive process." His colleague added: "as the first volume customer of Intel 18A, I see the progress that Intel Foundry is making on performance and yield, and I look forward to being in production in the second half, as we demonstrate the benefits of our world-class design."

Intel's freshly uploaded fourth-quarter 2024 "CEO/CFO earnings call comments" document has revealed grand CPU-related plans for 2025 and beyond. One of Team Blue's interim leaders—Michelle Johnston Holthaus—believes that "Nova Lake" processors (a next-generation client family) will arrive in 2026, following a comprehensive rollout of "Panther Lake" CPU products. This official timeline matches previously leaked and rumored development schedules—most notably, in a shipping manifest that was discovered last week. In recent times, industry watchdogs have linked "Nova Lake" to Intel's own 14A node and a TSMC 2 nm process node. Additionally, tipsters pointed to an apparent selection of Coyote Cove performance cores and Arctic Wolf efficiency-oriented cores.

Following yesterday's official announcements, a leaker shared several insights—theorized core configurations and manufacturing details were posted on the Hardware subreddit. Community members were engaged in a debate over Intel's "killing of Falcon Shore," but a plucky contributor—going under the moniker "Exist50"—redirected conversation to all-things "Nova Lake." They believe that Intel has shifted all "compute dies to TSMC" for manufacturing, after a change in plans—initial designs had the "8+16 die" on TSMC's N2P, and the "4+8 die on Intel 18A." Exist50 seemed to have inside track knowledge of product ranges: "Nova Lake (NVL) has a unified HUB/SoC die across mobile and desktop. So yeah, the baseline there is 4+8+4. But there's at least one more die for mobile." The flagship desktop (NVL-S or NVL-SK) chip's configuration could feature as many as sixteen performance cores and thirty-two efficiency cores, due to tile reuse—2x (8P+16E). Exist50 advised Intel CPU enthusiasts to forgo current generation offerings. "Nova Lake" should be: "quite a jump from Arrow Lake (ARL) in terms of MT performance, to say the least. I think anyone who buys ARL will end up regretting it, big time!"

Intel shared some news and updates about its upcoming CPU architectures during the Q4 earnings call. Intel confirmed that "Panther Lake", its next major CPU, is set to be released in late 2025. "Panther Lake" will use Intel's latest 18A manufacturing process and might be part of the Core Ultra 300 series. "Panther Lake" is rumored to combine next-generation "Cougar Cove" P-cores with existing "Skymont" E-cores both in the Compute complex, and in the SoC tile as low-power island E-cores. However, Intel hasn't confirmed if it will be available for desktop systems.

The following CPU architecture, "Nova Lake", is set to debut in 2026. Unlike "Panther Lake", we know "Nova Lake" will work on desktop computers. This suggests desktop users might need to wait until 2026 for an upgrade unless Intel surprises us with a desktop version of "Panther Lake" or an alternative option.

Shipping manifests at NBD.ltd have revealed the presence of Intel's "Nova Lake" test chips, providing insight into the development timeline of the company's 2026 processor platform. The discovery comes as Intel prepares for the launch of its "Panther Lake" CPUs on the 18A process node in late 2025. Nova Lake is positioned to replace both Panther Lake for mobile devices and "Arrow Lake" for desktop systems. The manufacturing process remains unconfirmed, with Intel potentially using either its in-house 14A node or TSMC's 2 nm technology. Following recent practices, Intel may split production between its own facilities and TSMC for different components. Rumored specifications show that Nova Lake will use Coyote Cove performance cores and Arctic Wolf efficiency cores.

Unlike Lunar Lake, it will not incorporate on-package memory, maintaining a more conventional design approach. The test chip's appearance suggests Intel is adhering to its development schedule. This timing aligns with the company's plans for Panther Lake's mass production in the second half of 2025, a structured transition between generations. Documents point to "Razor Lake" as Nova Lake's eventual successor, though detailed specifications are not yet available. Panther Lake, the immediate predecessor to Nova Lake, will focus primarily on mobile computing, with desktop variants limited to Mini PC implementations. This approach mirrors the Meteor Lake generation, which saw limited desktop release through the "PS" series for Edge platforms. The Nova Lake platform is expected to support DDR5 memory and may introduce PCIe Gen 6.0 compatibility, with final specifications unconfirmed.

MacBook Air aficionados, at least most of them, have been longing for an OLED-equipped variant for quite a while now. OLED displays, especially the tandem-style units that Apple ships with its iPad Pros, have undeniable advantages over tradition LCDs, such as a near-infinite contrast ratio, near-instant response times, and excellent color reproduction. The fear of panel burn-in does exist, although as OLED technology progresses, such fears continue to subside. That said, for those who are holding out for it, the grapevine indicates they will have to hold their horses for a while longer.

A recent report by The Elec has stated that the MacBook Air, which was previously expected to get the OLED treatment sometime in 2027, has now been delayed by another two years. As such, the MacBook Air is now not expected to boast an OLED display before 2029 at the earliest. The Elec claims that the primary cause behind the delay is the lackluster sales boost brought by the OLED upgrade to the iPad Pro lineup, which fell short of what Apple anticipated. That said, the MacBook Air will utilize "Oxide TFT" technology for its LCDs starting 2027, allowing for improved color accuracy, energy efficiency, and contrast. MacBook Pros have already utilized the technology since 2022, and are still expected to boast OLED panels by 2026.

Intel product change notification documents—published on January 6—have revealed the planned "End of Life" (EOL) phasing out of 12th Generation "Alder Lake" mobile processor models. Tom's Hardware has pored over the listed products/SKUs and concluded that the vast majority of Team Blue's mobile-oriented Alder Lake selection are destined for retirement. Team Blue's HX series is being kept alive for a little while longer. Two documents show differing "discontinuance timelines" for their respective inventories—including lower-end Celeron and Pentium Gold SKUs, as well as familiar higher-up Core i3, i5, i7, and i9 families. U, P, H and HK-affixed models are lined up for the chopping block.

Intel's 13th Generation "Raptor Lake" mobile processor selection—comprised of Core 100 (series 1) and Core 200 (series 2)—offers similar silicon makeup. Many equivalent alternatives to older generation "Alder Lake" chips reside here—Tom's Hardware presented a key example: "i5-1235U, which is designated for thin and lightweight laptops. OEMs can instead opt for the i5-1335U, the Core 5 120U, or the Core 5 220U, as they're just better bins of the 1235U on the same FCBGA1744 socket." A significant number of Alder Lake mobile SKUs will be available to OEMs for ordering up until 26 April, with final shipments heading out on 25 October. The rest have been assigned a July 25 order cut-off date, with final shipments scheduled on 26 January 2026.

During Barclays 22nd Annual Global Technology Conference, Intel was a guest and two of the interim company co-CEOs Michelle Johnston Holthaus and David Zinsner gave a little update on the state of affairs at Intel. One of the most interesting aspects of the talk was Intel's upcoming "Panther Lake" processor—a direct successor to Intel Core Ultra 200S "Arrow Lake-H" mobile processors. The company confirmed that Panther Lake would utilize an Intel 18A node and that a few select customers have powered on Panther Lake on the E0 engineering sample chip. "Now we are using Intel Foundry for Panther Lake, which is our 2025 product, which will land on 18A. And this is the first time that we're customer zero in a long time on an Intel process," said interim co-CEO Michelle Johnston Holthaus, adding, "But just to give some assurances, on Panther Lake, we have our ES0 samples out with customers. We have eight customers that have powered on, which gives you just kind of an idea that the health of the silicon is good and the health of the Foundry is good."

While we don't know what ES0 means for Intel internally, we can assume that it is one of the first engineering samples on the 18A. The "ES" moniker usually refers to engineering samples, and zero after it could be the first design iteration. For reference, Intel's "Panther Lake-H" will reportedly have up to 18 cores: 6 P-cores, 8 E-cores, and 4 LP cores. The design brings back low-power island E-cores in the SoC tile. The P-cores use "Cougar Cove," which should have a higher IPC than "Lion Cove," while keeping the existing "Skymont" E-cores. The SoC tile may move from Arrow Lake's 6 nm to a newer process to fit the LP cores and an updated NPU. The iGPU is said to use the Xe3 "Celestial" architecture. With Arrow Lake-H launching in early 2025, Panther Lake-H likely won't arrive until 2026.

Fujitsu has previewed its next-generation Monaka processor, a 144-core powerhouse for data center. Satoshi Matsuoka of the RIKEN Center for Computational Science showcased the mechanical sample on social media platform X. The Monaka processor is developed in collaboration with Broadcom and employs an innovative 3.5D eXtreme Dimension System-in-Package architecture featuring four 36-core chiplets manufactured using TSMC's N2 process. These chiplets are stacked face-to-face with SRAM tiles through hybrid copper bonding, utilizing TSMC's N5 process for the cache layer. A distinguishing feature of the Monaka design is its approach to memory architecture. Rather than incorporating HBM, Fujitsu has opted for pure cache dies below compute logic in combination with DDR5 DRAM compatibility, potentially leveraging advanced modules like MR-DIMM and MCR-DIMM.

The processor's I/O die supports cutting-edge interfaces, including DDR5 memory, PCIe 6.0, and CXL 3.0 for seamless integration with modern data center infrastructure. Security in the design is taken care of with the implementation of Armv9-A's Confidential Computing Architecture for enhanced workload isolation. Fujitsu has set ambitious goals for the Monaka processor. The company aims to achieve twice the energy efficiency of current x86 processors by 2027 while maintaining air cooling capabilities. The processor aims to do AI and HPC with the Arm SVE 2 support, which enables vector lengths up to 2048 bits. Scheduled for release during Fujitsu's fiscal year 2027 (April 2026 to March 2027), the Monaka processor is shaping up as a competitor to AMD's EPYC and Intel's Xeon processors.