Ventiva, the leader in thermal solutions, today announced that its Ventiva ICE9 thermal management suite is being featured in a fan-less proof-of-concept laptop design, powered by Intel Lunar Lake processors at CES. By collaborating with Dell Technologies and Intel on the PC design, this concept introduces a new level of silent productivity for sub-12 mm laptops.

"Ventiva ICE technology offers a revolutionary approach to help achieve thin, light, and silent laptop designs that offer great performance," said Josh Newman, Vice President, Client Computing Group, and General Manager, Product Marketing & Management, Intel. "Intel is excited about the result of the close co-engineering collaboration with Ventiva and Dell Technologies to help ready their technology for future Intel Core Ultra devices."

ASUS at the 2025 International CES showed off some of the first NUC desktops that meet Microsoft Copilot+ AI PC logo requirements. The new ASUS NUC 14 Pro AI measures 130 mm x 130 mm x 34 mm. It runs an Intel Core Ultra 200V series "Lunar Lake" processor. Depending on the processor model, you get 16 GB or 32 GB of hardwired LPDDR5X memory. You also get the processor's Xe2 "Battlemage" iGPU. Its NPU provides up to 45 AI TOPS of performance, meeting Copilot+ requirements. Storage is care of an M.2-2280 slot with NVMe Gen 4 x4 wiring. I/O options include two 40 Gbps Thunderbolt 4 ports including DisplayPort passthrough, and networking that includes Bluetooth 5.4 and Wi-Fi 7.

ASUS won't (or probably can't use the "NUC" moniker with AMD processors), and so there's the ExpertCenter PN54 for those who want essentially the same device, but with an AMD Ryzen AI 300 series processor. This mini PC has the same exact dimensions as the NUC 14 Pro AI, and is powered by a Ryzen AI 300 "Strix Point" processor, with options going all the way up to the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370. This chip includes the XDNA 2 NPU with 50 AI TOPS on tap, which means it meets Microsoft Copilot+ AI PC logo requirements. It also features the Radeon 870M RDNA 3.5 graphics with 16 CU. The chip uses standard dual-channel DDR5-5600 using SODIMMs. Storage includes an M.2-2280 slot with Gen 4 x4 wiring. In place of Thunderbolt 4, you get a couple of USB4 ports with 40 Gbps bandwidth and DP passthrough. Comms include Bluetooth 5.4 and Wi-Fi 7, just like on its Intel-powered sibling.

AMD at the 2025 International CES debuted the Ryzen AI Max 300 series of mobile processors. These chips are designed to go up against the Apple M4 Pro, or the chip that powers the Apple MacBook Pro. The idea behind it is to provide leadership CPU and graphics performance from a single package, minimizing the PCB footprint from having a discrete GPU. In stark contrast, the Intel Core Ultra 200V "Lunar Lake," is designed more to go against the Apple M4, or the chips that power the latest MacBook Air but not quite the MacBook Pro. What sets "Strix Halo" functionally apart from "Lunar Lake" or even the M4 Pro, is that the AMD chip doesn't have memory-on-package (MoP), it relies on discrete LPDDR5X memory chips.

The "Strix Halo" processor is "Fire Range" on steroids. There are one or two "Zen 5" CCDs, for up to a 16-core/32-thread core configuration. Each of these "Zen 5" cores are unlike the ones on "Strix Point," in that they feature a fully unlocked AVX512 hardware pipeline (512-bit FP). The CCD shares a lavish 32 MB of L3 cache among 8 "Zen 5" cores. This is hardly the star attraction. Unlike "Fire Range," which features the small 6 nm client I/O die from "Granite Ridge," The new "Strix Halo" features a massive SoC die built on the 5 nm EUV foundry node. This packs the star attraction of the processor, it's oversized iGPU that has a massive 40 compute units (2,560 stream processors).

MSI, a global leader in computing solutions, is excited to announce the launch of its latest innovation in mini PCs: the Cubi NUC AI Series. This new lineup features the Cubi NUC AI+ 2M and the Cubi NUC AI 1UM, both carefully designed to deliver exceptional performance in impressively compact formats.

Cubi NUC AI+ 2M: The Ultimate Copilot+ PC
Measuring just 0.826 liters, the Cubi NUC AI+ 2M sets a new standard for mini PCs. Despite its compact size, it is powered by an Intel Core Ultra Processor from the Lunar Lake platform and comes with AI tools designed to enhance productivity and improve the user experience. Equipped with a dedicated AI Boost NPU, it functions as a Copilot+ PC, seamlessly integrating with AI-driven applications like CoCreator, Windows Studio Effects, Live Captions, and Live Translation—making it ideal for both professional and personal use. One of its standout features is the one-touch fingerprint power button, which provides both security and convenience. Additionally, a dedicated Copilot button offers instant access to AI assistance, streamlining workflows and daily tasks. The built-in microphone and speaker further enrich the user experience, enabling smooth communication and voice-activated commands. Connectivity is another strong point, with two Thunderbolt 4 ports, one of which supports up to 100 W Power Delivery input. This means the Cubi NUC AI+ 2M can be powered directly through a monitor using a Type-C connection, minimizing cable clutter and simplifying your setup.

Intel today hosts the 2025 International CES Keynote address with a slew of announcements from across its consumer and commercial processor product lines. The company is expected to expand its "Arrow Lake" and "Lunar Lake" processor lines that it debuted in 2024, across many new product segments. In particular, "Arrow Lake" is expected to hit critical mass in the mobile and commercial PC spaces. "Lunar Lake" will see many more processor models, letting it power the year's most popular Copilot+ AI PCs. The desktop Core Ultra "Arrow Lake-S" will enter mainstream segments alongside mid-range motherboard chipsets. Join us, as we blog the very latest from Intel's CES keynote.Update 16:32 UTC: The show is underway.

Update 16:37 UTC: Michelle Johnston Holthaus, Interim co-CEO, is expected to take centerstage.

LG Electronics (LG) is set to unveil its 2025 LG gram lineup, the company's first on-device AI-powered laptops, at CES 2025 in January. The new lineup includes innovative models such as the gram Pro, gram Pro 2-in-1, gram and gram Book. Leveraging LG's gram AI technology, the latest grams deliver state-of-the-art capabilities and stellar performance, harnessing large language models and personalized AI features to elevate the user experience - all while preserving the series' iconic slim and lightweight design.

Enhancing Productivity and Personalization with LG gram AI
The 2025 gram laptops present a smarter, more secure and highly-personalized user experience through LG's innovative gram AI. With gram chat On-Device, these laptops utilize AI algorithms to process and analyze data locally without requiring a network connection. At the same time, they provide convenient access to cloud-based AI services via gram chat Cloud, powered by GPT-4o. This subscription-based service, which uses GPT-4o, is offered free of charge for the first year. The integration of on-device and cloud-based AI creates a hybrid AI solution that enhances productivity by delivering personalized insights, a comprehensive knowledge base and an intuitive, ever-evolving experience that adapts to users' needs.

"Twin Lake" is codename for a line of low-power x86-64 processors by Intel, which succeed the Core i3 N-series and N200 series "Alder Lake-N" processors. These non-socketed (BGA) chips power a wide range of devices from entry level notebooks and mini PCs to consumer NAS servers, and other embedded applications. The chips feature only E-cores. While "Alder Lake-N" used "Gracemont" cores, "Twin Lake" uses the swanky new "Skymont" cores, which serve as E-cores in "Lunar Lake" and "Arrow Lake" hybrid processors. "Skymont" cores feature massive IPC and clock-speed gains over "Gracemont," of nearly 50%, which pulls up their performance levels to match the "Golden Cove" and "Raptor Cove" P-cores of "Alder Lake" and "Raptor Lake," although these cores can't boost up to 5.00 GHz. We got the first name-drop of "Twin Lake" way back in May 2024. Jaykihn leaked what the processor lineup could look like.

The "Twin Lake" silicon features two "Skymont" E-core clusters sharing an L3 cache. At this point, the sizes of the shared L2 caches of the E-core clusters, and the size of the shared L3 cache are not known. On "Alder Lake-N," each "Gracemont" cluster features 2 MB of L2 cache, and the two clusters share a 6 MB L3 cache. The silicon also features an iGPU based on what is very likely the Xe-LPG graphics architecture, with four Xe cores worth 32 execution units (EU). The series is led by the Intel N355. This chip maxes out the "Twin Lake" silicon, enabling both "Skymont" clusters, for an 8-core/8-thread CPU configuration. The CPU comes with a base frequency of 3.00 GHz, and boosts up to 3.90 GHz. The chip comes with a configurable TDP of 9 W and 15 W. It comes with a maxed out iGPU, with all 32 EU being enabled, and a graphics frequency of 1.35 GHz.

Minisforum is a consumer hardware brand that is well known for its impressive lineup of SFF/Mini PCs. However, what might not be as well-known, might be the fact that the brand also makes a plethora of other computing hardware and accessories. The company had recently announced the V3 and the more affordable V3 SE 3-in-1 tablet PCs with a design that is reminiscent of the Microsoft Surface. The V3 SE is now available to purchase, starting at $799.

At its heart, the Minisforum V3 SE is powered by the 28 W Ryzen 7735U "Rembrandt R" APU based on the Zen 3+ microarchitecture paired with 16 GB of LPDDR5-6400 memory. The APU is a decently powerful one, with multicore performance that is roughly in the same league as the Core Ultra 7 258V "Lunar Lake" processor. Unsurprisingly, any kind of discrete graphics is absent from the PC tablet, thereby making it rely solely on the 12-CU Radeon 680M iGPU for graphically demanding tasks. Storage is taken care of by its 1 TB M.2 SSD, which is housed in a 2280 slot.

According to recently discovered shipping manifests, Intel is developing a new processor series codenamed "Wildcat Lake," potentially succeeding their entry-level "Intel Processor" lineup based on Alder Lake-N. The documents, revealed by x86deadandback, suggest a 2025 launch timeline for these chips targeting lightweight laptops and mini-PCs. The shipping records from October 30 mention CPU reball equipment compatible with BGA 1516 sockets, measuring 35 x 25 mm, indicating early validation testing is underway. These processors are expected to be manufactured using Intel's advanced 18A process technology, sharing the same manufacturing node as the upcoming Panther Lake series. Early technical specifications of Wildcat Lake point to a hybrid architecture combining next-generation "Cougar Cove" performance cores with "Darkmont" low-power efficiency (LPE) cores in a 2P+4LPE configuration.

This design appears to separate the core clusters, departing from traditional shared ring bus arrangements, similar to the approach taken in Intel's Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake processors. While Wildcat Lake's exact position in Intel's product stack remains unclear, it could serve as a modernized replacement for the what were Pentium and Celeron processor families. These chips traditionally power devices like Chromebooks, embedded systems, and home servers, with the new series potentially offering significant performance improvements for these market segments. The processor is expected to operate in the sub-double-digit TDP power envelope, positioning it below the more powerful Lunar Lake series. Graphics capabilities will likely be more modest than Lunar Lake's Xe2 architecture, aligning with its entry-level market positioning.

Intel is significantly expanding its desktop Core Ultra 200 "Arrow Lake-S" lineup with new 65 W models along the sidelines of the 2025 International CES, but more importantly, it is bringing the "Arrow Lake" microarchitecture to the mobile space. The company is planning to launch at least 22 processor models this January, but not all of them are based on "Arrow Lake." Tom's Hardware reports that the lineup broadly revolves around the "Core 2-series" processor model numbering.

The Core Ultra 200H series consists of H-segment (conventional thickness notebook) processors in the 28 W to 45 W class, and are based on the "Arrow Lake-H" silicon. The Core Ultra 200HX series targets premium gaming notebooks and portable workstations, and consists of 55 W to 65 W class processors, including CPU overclocking capabilities on certain models. Things get interesting with the Core Ultra 200U series. These chips are based on the "Meteor Lake Refresh" silicon—an older microarchitecture—targeting the 7 W to 28 W segments for ultraportables. Lastly, there's the Core H 200 and Core U 200 series (no "Ultra" in the branding), which are based on the older "Raptor Lake" monolithic silicon, targeting mainstream notebooks.

Laptops powered by Intel's Lunar Lake family of processors have been seeping out slowly but steadily into the market. Samsung has no intention of sitting idle either, and has lifted the curtains on its Galaxy Book 5 Pro with an impressive AMOLED display and a battery life claim of a stupendous 25 hours. The laptop will be launched in South Korea on January 2, and a global rollout should follow thereafter.

Basically, the Book 5 Pro is the more affordable sibling of the Book 5 Pro 360. As the sharp-eyed amongst you may have already guessed, the Book 5 Pro does not feature the 360° hinge, which allowed the Book 5 Pro 360 to function as a convertible. Now, of course, a lot of people simply do not care about having convertible functionality, and the newly announced notebook is likely targeted at them.

HWiNFO has been updated to version v8.16, which brings several new improvements and fixes, as well as adds enhanced support for next-generation AMD CPUs and APUs, as well as next-generation Intel GPUs. While it does not specify any models, it is clear that it gets support for AMD's upcoming Kraken Point and Strix Halo APUs, as well as Intel's upcoming Battlemage GPUs.

In addition, the new HWiNFO v8.16 also improves support for Intel Lunar Lake, adds reporting of number of NPU tiles, adds support for Cybenetics Powenetics PMD (Power Measurements Device), enhances sensor monitoring on MSI's Z890, B860, and H810 series motherboards, enhances reporting of CUDIMM CKD parameters, NGU clock, and drive letter, and improves reporting of V/F curve settings, among other things. You can check out the full release notes below.

MSI previously gave us a teaser of what to expect from its upcoming Claw 8 AI+ gaming handheld with Intel's Lunar Lake Core Ultra CPUs, calling it "the most advanced 8-inch gaming handheld in the market," but a recent CES listing has divulged more details about the upcoming challenger to the likes of the Lenovo Legion Go. For starters, the upgraded battery capacity has been revealed, along with an estimated battery life and performance figures. Supposedly, more information will be revealed about the Claw 8 AI+ at CES 2025, which starts on January 7, 2025.

According to the CES page, the new MSI Claw 8 AI+ will have an 8-inch display and an 82 WHr battery, which will supposedly be able to deliver "4+ hours of gameplay for AAA titles." However, these manufacturer claims are generally to be taken with healthy helpings of salt, especially in when it comes to claims as nebulous as "AAA titles" without any proposed quality settings, specific games, or frame rates. Regarding the display, it wouldn't be surprising to see MSI use the same display as the one found in the Lenovo Legion Go, since there is a somewhat limited selection of 8-inch displays for handheld gaming devices. The MSI Claw 8 AI+ will also use Intel's 2nd-generation ARC iGPUs in conjunction with AI-enhanced graphics, which should provide a healthy uptick in both performance and efficiency, with the CES listing touting 48 TOPS of compute power.

AMD has published a blog post about its latest AMD Ryzen AI 300 series processors, claiming they are changing the game for portable devices. To back these claims, Team Red has compared its Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor to Intel's latest Core Ultra 7 258V, using the following games: Assassin's Creed Mirage, Baldur's Gate 3, Borderlands 3, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Cyberpunk 2077, Doom Eternal, Dying Light 2 Stay Human, F1 24, Far Cry 6, Forza Horizon 5, Ghost of Tsushima, Hitman 3, Hogwarts Legacy, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Spider-Man Remastered, and Tiny Tina's Wonderlands. The conclusion was that AMD's Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, with its integrated Radeon 890M graphics powerhouse, outperformed the Intel "Lunar Lake" Core Ultra 7 258V with Intel Arc Graphics 140V by 75% on average.

To support this performance leap, AMD also relies on software technologies, including FidelityFX Super Resolution 3 (FSR 3) and HYPR-RX, to unlock additional power and gaming efficiency. FSR 3 alone enhances visuals in over 95 games, while HYPR-RX, with features like AMD Fluid Motion Frames 2 (AFMF 2) and Radeon Anti-Lag, provides substantial performance boosts across thousands of games. The company has also compared its FSR/HYPR-RS combination with Intel's XeSS, which is available in around 130 games. AMD claims its broader suite supports 415+ games and is optimized for smoother gameplay. The AFMF 2 claims support with thousands of titles, while Intel's GPU software stack lacks a comparison point. Of course, these marketing claims are to be taken with a grain of salt, so independent testing is always the best to compare the two.

According to Taiwanese media Commercial Times, Intel is significantly increasing its outsourcing of "Arrow Lake" CPU production to TSMC, a strategic move as it grapples with persistent issues in its own foundry division. This decision to outsource a substantial portion of Arrow Lake's production is a significant shift in Intel's strategy, showing the company's rising reliance on external partners to meet quality and performance demands. The Arrow Lake Core Ultra 200 series is Intel's first major outsourcing initiative, in which Intel gave its core IP to third-party foundries, more specifically for a 3 nm node at TSMC. However, it clearly indicates the performance gaps in Intel's own Intel Foundry and the high demand expectations for the new CPUs. Originally intended to use Intel 20A node, Intel shifted focus of 18A node for its products and upcoming foundry customers.

Intel's recent orders with TSMC extend to its upcoming Lunar Lake chips and next-generation Falcon Shores AI GPUs, both of which will use TSMC's 3 nm process. Although Intel's 18A node remains promising, the company relies on current products to sustain its revenue streams, making TSMC's support crucial in ensuring timely shipments. This increased outsourcing reflects Intel's need to maintain competitive performance in the short term. Once its Foundry division meets performance and capacity targets, Intel aims to bring more CPU manufacturing back in-house. However, if anything goes wrong, Intel could face challenges securing sufficient volume from TSMC, as the foundry has longstanding commitments with major clients like Apple, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and AMD.

Apple's M4-equipped MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and 24" iMac lineups are set to debut next week. The M4 family of desktop-class SoCs, which will soon be joined by the M4 Pro and M4 Max, is likely to bring substantial performance improvements to the aforementioned Mac models. If the recently leaked benchmarks are anything to go by, the M4-powered lineup appears poised to outperform Intel's "Lunar Lake" rather comfortably, while bringing the heat to AMD's "Strix Halo" as well as Intel's upcoming "Arrow Lake-H"-powered notebooks.

For those interested in the thin-and-light segment, the MacBook Air has always presented itself as a very decent option. According to recent reports by Mark Gurman, the M4-equipped MacBook Air is scheduled for launch sometime during January to March of 2025, with mass production set to start soon. The Mac Studio, which was supposedly slated to launch alongside the MacBook Air, is now delayed by a few months and will possibly see the light of day during the second quarter of 2025.

Some of the first die-shots and annotations of the Intel Core Ultra 200V "Lunar Lake" processor surfaced on the web, thanks to die-shots by GeenWens and Kurnalsalts on Twitter. Be sure to check out our Lunar Lake Technical Deep-dive article to learn the basics of how Lunar Lake is different from "Meteor Lake." Both are disaggregated chiplet-based processors, but Lunar Lake remodels things a bit. All the logic engines of the processor—the CPU, the iGPU, and the NPU, are located in a centralized Compute tile that's built on the TSMC 3 nm process, while all the I/O controllers are spun out to the Platform Controller tile built on TSMC 6 nm, which sit on a Foveros base tile that acts as an interposer, facilitating high-density microscopic connections between the two tiles. The base tile sits on the fiberglass substrate, which also has stacked LPDDR5X memory for either 16 GB or 32 GB of on-package system memory.

The Kurnalsalts annotation provides a good lay of the land for the Compute tile. The most striking aspect of it is the CPU. "Lunar Lake" comes with a 4P+4E core hybrid CPU, but the two kinds of cores do not share a last-level cache or sit in a ringbus, unlike in case of the Compute tile of "Meteor Lake." The four "Lion Cove" P-cores each come with 2.5 MB of dedicated L2 caches, and share a 12 MB L3 cache. The four "Skymont" E-cores are not part of the ringbus connecting the four P-cores, rather they are physically separated, much like the low-power island E-cores on "Meteor Lake." The E-core cluster shares a 4 MB L2 cache among the four E-cores. This E-core cluster is directly connected to the switching fabric of the Compute tile.

Intel's future processor microarchitectures and their constituent CPU cores have hit the rumor-mill. The "Lion Cove" P-core is now current-gen, as products based on the Core Ultra 200V "Lunar Lake" processor, which implements it, have been announced. "Lion Cove" will also be the main workhorse of "Arrow Lake," and Intel's Xeon 7 P-core server processors. The core ditches Hyper-Threading, but introduces a double-digit percent IPC gain over "Raptor Cove." The thunder of "Lion Cove" was stolen by the new "Skymont" E-core during the "Lunar Lake" technical presentations, as it offers nearly the same IPC as "Raptor Cove," at much lower power, and is held back by a lack of HTT and its inability to operate at high clock speeds that "Raptor Cove" can. We predict "Skymont" is shaking things up at Intel, and will have an impact on the way the company's future CPU cores are designed—to place greater emphasis on power and die-area to achieve IPC growth targets with each generation.

The successor to "Lion Cove" is codenamed "Royal Core." This would be the first time in over five years (since "Sunny Cove") that Intel's P-core codename doesn't use "Cove," signaling a departure from that naming scheme. The first iteration of "Royal Core" will power Intel's "Nova Lake" microarchitecture that succeeds "Lunar Lake." A slightly updated version of this core, codenamed "Royal Core 1.1," will power the "Beast Lake" microarchitecture, which likely falls in the lineage of "Arrow Lake," if not being a direct successor to it. An alleged Intel employee's work project description revealed "Cobra Core," a CPU core that succeeds "Royal Core," although the codename of its parent microarchitecture hasn't been revealed. Microarchitectures such as "Beast Lake," and its successor implementing "Cobra Core" are slated for much later into the decade, and we don't expect them to see the light of the day till at least 2026-27, if not later.

Details have emerged about Intel's upcoming "Panther Lake" processors, set to be the third generation of Core Ultra mobile chips. Called the Core Ultra 300 series, these CPUs are expected to succeed "Lunar Lake". According to recent leaks, Panther Lake-H will be manufactured using Intel's cutting-edge 18A process node. The chips are said to feature a combination of Cougar Cove P-Cores, Skymont E-Cores, and Xe3 (Celestial) integrated graphics. This architecture builds upon Intel's hybrid core design, refining it for even better performance on mobile devices. The leaked information suggests a range of configurations for Panther Lake-H, the high-perfomance variant of the lineup. These include models with varying core counts and power envelopes, from efficient 25 W parts to more interesting 45 W options. Notably, some SKUs reportedly feature up to 18 cores in total, combining P-cores, E-cores, and LP E-cores in a five-tile package. This is an increase from previously believed 16 cores.

Intel's 13th and 14th generation processors, codenamed "Raptor Lake" and "Raptor Lake Refresh," have been notoriously riddled with stability issues over the past few months, up until Intel shipped the 0x129 microcode update on August 10 to fix these issues. However, the upcoming Intel Core Ultra 200 "Arrow Lake" and 200V series "Lunar Lake" processors will not have these issues as the company confirmed that an all-new design is used, even for the segment of power regulation. The official company note states: "Intel confirms that its next generation of processors, codenamed Arrow Lake and Lunar Lake, are not affected by the Vmin Shift Instability issue due to the new architectures powering both product families. Intel will ensure future product families are protected against the Vmin Shift Instability issue as well."

Originally, Intel's analysis for 13th—and 14th-generation processors indicated that stability issues stemmed from excessive voltage during processor operation. These voltage increases led to degradation, raising the minimum voltage necessary for stable performance, which Intel refers to as "Vmin shift." Given that the design phase of new architectures lasts for years, Intel has surely anticipated that the old power delivery could yield problems, and the upcoming CPU generations are now exempt from these issues, bringing stability once again to Intel's platforms. When these new products launch, all eyes will be on the platform's performance, but with a massive interest in stability testing from enthusiasts.

Demonstrating the depth and breadth of its technologies at Hot Chips 2024, Intel showcased advancements across AI use cases - from the data center, cloud and network to the edge and PC - while covering the industry's most advanced and first-ever fully integrated optical compute interconnect (OCI) chiplet for high-speed AI data processing. The company also unveiled new details about the Intel Xeon 6 SoC (code-named Granite Rapids-D), scheduled to launch during the first half of 2025.

"Across consumer and enterprise AI usages, Intel continuously delivers the platforms, systems and technologies necessary to redefine what's possible. As AI workloads intensify, Intel's broad industry experience enables us to understand what our customers need to drive innovation, creativity and ideal business outcomes. While more performant silicon and increased platform bandwidth are essential, Intel also knows that every workload has unique challenges: A system designed for the data center can no longer simply be repurposed for the edge. With proven expertise in systems architecture across the compute continuum, Intel is well-positioned to power the next generation of AI innovation." -Pere Monclus, chief technology officer, Network and Edge Group at Intel.

Intel may have debuted its Hybrid (heterogeneous multicore) architecture for the desktop with the 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake-S," but the value-ended Core i3 series SKUs throughout the 12th, 13th, and 14th Gen Core processors have remained 4-core/8-thread traditional multicore chips, with just four P-cores. Intel is about to change this with the Core Ultra 200 series "Arrow Lake-S." According to OneRaichu, a reliable source with Intel leaks, the company is giving finishing touches to a pair of Core Ultra 3 series desktop processor SKUs based on the "Arrow Lake" microarchitecture. These will be 8-core chips, a doubling in core-count form the past generations, but the nature of these 8 cores is not yet known.

Among the SKUs in the leak are the Core Ultra 3 205, and the Core Ultra 3 215, both of which are 8-core chips. The two are probably differentiated in a similar manner to past generations of Intel Core i3 desktop did, using cache sizes (eg: Core i3-10100 and i3-10300). The chips probably feature a 4P+4E core configuration, as a "2P+6E" configuration might not be possible, as the E-core clusters are indivisible, although we don't know if the same rule applies to the "Skymont" E-core clusters. The dedicated L2 caches of both the P-cores and E-core clusters could be smaller than on Core Ultra 5 and above SKUs. The Core Ultra 200V "Lunar Lake" processor uses "Lion Cove" P-cores with 2.5 MB of L2 cache per core, while the Core Ultra 9 285K probably has "Lion Cove" P-cores with 3 MB of L2 cache per core.

Intel's ambitious new ultraportable mobile processor series, the Core Ultra 200V series "Lunar Lake," launches on September 3, according to an Acer announcement for a media event covering the launch of its notebooks based on these chips. Acer scheduled this event on September 4, which means Intel to launch these processors no later than September 3. Media events by PC OEMs tend to follow a day after Intel's launch of a new processor generation or platform. A September 3 launch would precede the IFA 2024 Conference in Berlin, which kicks off on September 6, but which is open to press and industry delegates a little sooner, as is the norm for trade shows.

The Core Ultra 200V "Lunar Lake" is Intel's first processor generation to implement MoP (memory on package), eliminating the need for discrete memory modules. This reduces the Z height as well as PCB footprint of the platform, enabling thinner notebooks. MoP also has certain power and latency advantages compared to discrete memory. The compute complex of "Lunar Lake" consists of a 4P+4E CPU with "Lion Cove" P-cores, and "Skymont" E-cores. This is also the first processor to debut Intel's Xe2 "Battlemage" graphics architecture, as it powers its iGPU. It packs a powerful NPU that meets Microsoft Copilot+ AI PC requirements. You can learn all about "Lunar Lake" in our architecture deep-dive.

According to a recent report from Reuters, tech giant Intel is facing a significant legal challenge as shareholders file a lawsuit following a dramatic plunge in the company's stock price. The legal action comes from Intel's recent announcement of dividend suspensions and plans to lay off over 15,000 employees. The semiconductor behemoth saw its market value plummet by a staggering $32 billion in a single day, leaving investors reeling. The Construction Laborers Pension Trust of Greater St. Louis has initiated a proposed class action suit, naming Intel, CEO Pat Gelsinger, and CFO David Zinsner as defendants. The plaintiffs allege that the company made misleading statements about its business operations and manufacturing capabilities, artificially inflating its stock price between January 25 and August 1.

Intel's financial woes stem from underperforming contract foundry operations and 1% drop in revenue during the second quarter of 2024. While it may seem miniscule, declining revenue is paired with a negative 15.3% operating margin, resulting in a net loss of $1.61 billion. The company's August 1 announcement caught many shareholders off guard, prompting accusations of inadequate disclosure and transparency. This lawsuit is just one of several legal battles Intel is currently strangled in. The company is also locked in a patent dispute with R2 Semiconductor across multiple European countries, centering on voltage regulation technology. While Intel has secured a victory in the UK, it faces ongoing litigation in Germany, France, and Italy. Adding to Intel's troubles, a separate class action lawsuit is being explored on behalf of customers who purchased potentially faulty 13th and 14th-generation processors. The company also canceled its September 2024 Innovation event, citing poor financials, without any words on Arrow Lake or Lunar Lake. While the cancelation of events is sad, it is necessary to get financials back on track, and product launches should continue as usual.

The Intel stock on NASDAQ slid 25% as of this writing, on Friday (08/02). This comes in the wake of the company's Q2-2024 quarterly results that held the company's profitability below expectations, leading the company to suspend quarterly dividend payouts starting Q4-2024, and engage a slew of measures to cut cost of revenue by over $10 billion. Among other things, this mainly involves downsizing the company across its various business units. Intel tried to keep investor spirits high by posting updates on how its 5N4Y (five silicon fabrication nodes in four years) plan is nearing completion, and how the company is at the cusp of raking in numbers from the AI PC upswing. To this effect, the company is launching its "Lunar Lake" and "Arrow Lake" processors within 2024, to address the various PC sub-segments. The Intel stock isn't churning in a silo, tech stock prices across the industry are witnessing corrections, although few as remarkable as Intel.