Intel in its Q4-2022 Financial release call reiterated that its Core "Meteor Lake" processor remains on course for a 2H-2023 launch. The company slide does not mention the client form-factor the architecture targets, and there are still rumors of a "Raptor Lake Refresh" desktop processor lineup for 2H, which would mean that "Meteor Lake" will debut as a high-performance mobile processor architecture attempting to dominate the 7 W, 15 W, 28 W, and 35 W device market-segments, with its 6P+16E CPU that introduce IPC increases on both the P-cores and E-cores; and a powerful new iGPU. The slide also mentions that its succeeding "Lunar Lake" architecture is on course for 2024.

"Meteor Lake" is Intel's first chiplet-based MCM processor, in which the key components of the processor are built on various silicon fabrication nodes, based on their need for such a cutting-edge node; such that the cost-optimization upholds the economic aspect of Moore's Law. The compute tile, the die that has the CPU cores, features a 6P+16E setup, with six "Redwood Cove" P-cores, and sixteen "Crestmont" E-cores. At this point it's not known if "Crestmont" cores are arranged in clusters of 4 cores, each. The graphics tile features a powerful iGPU based on the newer Xe-LPG graphics architecture that meets full DirectX 12 Ultimate feature-set. The processor's I/O is expected to support even faster DDR5/LPDDR5 memory speeds, and feature PCIe Gen 5.

Keeping up with the cadence of two generations of desktop processors per socket, Intel will turn the page of the current LGA1700, with the introduction of the new Socket LGA1851. The processor package will likely have the same dimensions as LGA1700, and the two sockets may share cooler compatibility. The first processor microarchitecture to debut on LGA1851 will be the 14th Gen Core "Meteor Lake-S." These chips will feature a generationally lower CPU core-count compared to "Raptor Lake," but significantly bump the IPC on both the P-cores and E-cores.

"Raptor Lake" is Intel's final monolithic silicon client processor before the company pivots to chiplets built on various foundry nodes, as part of its IDM 2.0 strategy. The client-desktop version of "Meteor Lake," dubbed "Meteor Lake-S," will have a maximum CPU core configuration of 6P+16E (that's 6 performance cores with 16 efficiency cores). The chip has 6 "Redwood Cove" P-cores, and 16 "Crestmont" E-cores. Both of these are expected to receive IPC uplifts, such that the processor will end up faster (and hopefully more efficient) than the top "Raptor Lake-S" part. Particularly, it should be able to overcome the deficit of 2 P-cores.

Intel's next-generation "Meteor Lake" processor is the first mass-production client processor to embody the company's IDM 2.0 manufacturing strategy—one of building processors with multiple logic tiles interconnected with Foveros and a base-tile (essentially an interposer). Each tile is built on a silicon fabrication process most suitable to it, so that the most advanced node could be reserved for the component that benefits from it the most. For example, while you need the SIMD components of the iGPU to be built on an advanced low-power node, you don't need its display controller and media engine to, and these could be relegated to a tile built on a less advanced node. This way Intel is able to maximize its use of wafers for the most advanced nodes in a graded fashion.

Japanese tech publication PC Watch has annotated the "Meteor Lake" SoC, and points out that the vast majority of the chip's tiles and logic die-area is manufactured on TSMC nodes. The MCM consists of four logic tiles—the CPU tile, the Graphics tile, the SoC tile, and the I/O tile. The four sit on a base tile that facilitates extreme-density microscopic wiring interconnecting the logic tiles. The base tile is built on the 22 nm HKMG silicon fabrication node. This tile lacks any logic, and only serves to interconnect the tiles. Intel has an active 22 nm node, and decided it has the right density for the job.

An Intel Core "Raptor Lake" engineering sample was de-lidded by Expreview giving us a first look at what will be Intel's last monolithic silicon client processor before the company switches over to chiplets, with its next-generation "Meteor Lake." The chip de-lidded here is the i9-13900, which maxes out the "Raptor Lake-S" die, in featuring all 8 "Raptor Cove" P-cores and 16 "Gracemont" E-cores physically present on the die, along with 36 MB of shared L3 cache, and an iGPU based on the Xe-LP graphics architecture.

The "Raptor Lake-S" silicon is built on the same Intel 7 (10 nm Enhanced SuperFin) silicon fabrication node as "Alder Lake-S." The "Raptor Lake-S" (8P+16E) die measures 23.8 mm x 10.8 mm, or 257 mm² in area, which is 49 mm² more than that of the "Alder Lake-S" (8P+8E) die (around 209 mm²). The larger die area comes from not just the two additional E-core clusters, but also larger L2 caches for the E-core clusters (4 MB vs. 2 MB), and larger L2 caches for the P-cores (2 MB vs. 1.25 MB); besides the larger shared L3 cache (36 MB vs. 30 MB). The "Raptor Cove" P-core itself could be slightly larger than its "Golden Cove" predecessor.

Intel's next-generation Core "Meteor Lake" processors will debut the new Xe-LPG graphics architecture for its iGPU. A successor to the Xe-LP architecture powering iGPUs since 11th Gen Core "Tiger Lake," the Xe-LPG graphics architecture is tailored for small-scale GPU designs such as iGPUs. It sheds much of the bulk that the Xe-HPG has, which is optimized for discrete GPU designs. A leaked block diagram of "Meteor Lake" describes Xe-LPG as featuring a new "extended gaming mode," new Adaptix power sharing, which is probably a power-management optimization that prioritizes power share to the iGPU; and even more media encode acceleration capabilities.

The Core "Meteor Lake" compute tile will also feature the latest Gaussian Network Accelerator, GNA 3.5, which speeds up AI deep-learning neural net building and training. The chip features a purpose-build VPU (visual processing unit), similar to the ones in mobile SoCs, which improves the device's ability to recognize faces, or even augmented-reality applications. Lastly, with "Meteor Lake," Intel is debuting the new "Crestmont" E-core clusters that introduce an IPC improvement over the "Gracemont" E-cores powering "Alder Lake" and "Raptor Lake."