Panther Lake: Live demo of Intel's mobile processor hope for 2026

Behind closed doors at Computex, Intel showed selected journalists working test systems of the next processor generation, Panther Lake. It is expected to arrive in notebooks in 2026 as the Core Ultra 300 – there will probably not be a socketed desktop version. The CPUs were not yet in notebooks during the demo, but were soldered onto developer boards in a desktop housing. However, a large AI language model (LLM) and the Da Vinci Resolve video software, which used AI functions to recolor moving objects in videos live, were already running as demos under Windows. Intel did not provide any information on performance, clock speed or number of cores. However, rumors speak of fewer performance cores than in the current Core Ultra 200H aka Arrow Lake.

Panther Lake is the first Intel processor in which the chip manufacturer uses its Intel 18A manufacturing process, at least for the compute tile with the CPU cores. This is Intel's first process with so-called gate all-around transistors (GAAFETs) and backside power supply of the transistors. With this process, the manufacturer wants to catch up with the world market leader TSMC. Intel has stomped out the hapless predecessor 20A without a sound, and instead relies almost exclusively on chiplets produced by TSMC for the current Arrow and Lunar Lake processors for desktop PCs and notebooks in the Core Ultra 200 series.

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Intel Panther Lake (4 Bilder)

Mass production of Panther Lake is set to begin in the second half of the year. However, according to Intel, finished notebooks with the next generation of CPUs will not be available to buy until 2026. Potential Panther Lake notebooks from various manufacturers were also on display in the Intel showroom.

(chh)