Intel shows off Panther Lake, its next big bet in PC processors

Lunar Lake? Arrow Lake? After Intel launched both of those chips, it’s now turning its sights to the next processor on its roadmap: Panther Lake.

Intel chief executive Pat Gelsinger showed off what we presume to be a prototype of Intel’s next processor at Lenovo Tech World, where he appeared on stage to — among other things — promote the new, unexpected X86 advisory board collaboration with AMD and its chief executive, Dr. Lisa Su.

Lenovo showed off its new Aura Edition PCs, and Gelsinger was on stage to praise the laptop’s use of the Core Ultra processor and reveal that this is the laptop that he’s personally using. “Can you have great battery life and X86? Yes. That debate is now over,” Gelsinger said.

He then invited Yang Yuanqing (also known as “YY”), the chief executive of Lenovo, back on stage for Gelsinger’s “one more thing” moment.

“You know, we were working together on Meteor Lake, Lunar Lake, and the Core Ultra PC, great battery life, CPU, GPU, NPU. But we’re not done, are we?” Gelsinger said. “So I’d like to give you your first Panther Lake sample. This is our next-year product on [Intel] 18A that will be launching to build on the great work that we just announced today. Isn’t that cool?”

“Definitely,” Yuanqing replied.

Intel has said previously that it intends to ship Panther Lake in the first half of 2025, although the company hasn’t said whether or not it intends for the chip to be for laptops only, like Lunar Lake, or straddle performance laptops and desktops, like Arrow Lake. Both Arrow Lake and Lunar Lake have been primarily fabricated at TSMC, with Intel handling the packaging, the base die, and other less important roles. Intel has also announced major layoffs that are in the works throughout 2024, in part because its investments in its foundry business have yet to pay off.

Hot Hardware, which called out the Gelsinger clip, reasonably suggests that Panther Lake might be Intel’s Core Ultra Series 300 CPUs, with updated Cougar Cove performance cores and revised Darkmont E-cores, too. Intel’s 18A process, however, is where Intel hopes to right the ship, regain its manufacturing leadership, as well as handle the bulk of the chip’s production. It makes sense, then, that Intel is going to push Panther Lake as hard as it can.