Intel reveals details about Lunar Lake, confirms new desktop CPUs in Q4

Intel has already lifted the veil two weeks before the start of the Computex fair about the announcements we can expect from the processor manufacturer. The CPU maker releases the first details about Lunar Lake, and confirms new desktop CPUs for Q4.

The first production wafers for the Lunar Lake generation of processors for laptops are now rolling off the production line, the CPU manufacturer has announced. Lunar Lake is scheduled for release in the third quarter of this year and largely builds on Meteor Lake, where Intel introduced a completely new chiplet design. However, the new CPUs will use a new generation of P-cores, codenamed Lion Cove, and a new generation of E-cores, codenamed Skymont. The Thread Director to control those types of cores has also been improved.

In addition to the new CPU cores, the integrated GPU will also receive an upgrade. It is switching to the Xe2 architecture, making these IPUs the first video chips based on Battlemage. Separate video cards based on Battlemage will not appear until later this year. The integrated graphics are said to be up to fifty percent faster than those of the previous generation of CPUs.

Finally, Intel says about Lunar Lake that the integrated NPU for AI calculations has been significantly accelerated. Its computing power increases from 10Tops at Meteor Lake to 45Tops. In combination with the 60Tops that the GPU can deliver, albeit much less efficiently, the total AI computing power of the processor exceeds 100Tops.

Intel is saving a lot of information for when the Computex fair itself starts. CEO Pat Gelsinger will take the stage on Tuesday, June 4, to give a keynote. For example, we still know little about the integrated LPDDR5 memory chips clearly visible in the renders, which are intended to replace dram soldered on the motherboard. It is also not yet clear which production processes the various tiles of the Lunar Lake processors will be manufactured.

In addition, during Computex, Intel will also announce more about the next generation of desktop CPUs, known under the code name Arrow Lake. While the past three desktop generations were based on the same technology, with Arrow Lake all the new technology from Meteor Lake comes to the desktop in one fell swoop, including the tile design, new production processes and new architectures for the CPU cores. Intel confirms that Arrow Lake will come to market in the fourth quarter of this year.