Intel’s 7nm chip production node, also known as Intel 4, is now operational and will be used in next year’s Meteor Lake processor family.
Intel 4 and Meteor Lake have been scheduled for release in 2023 on the company’s roadmap for nearly two years. Given that Intel had problems with Intel 7, which used to be called 10nm, the official confirmation on Monday that both Intel 4 and Meteor Lake stay on schedule is big news.
Ann Kelleher, general manager of technology development at Intel, has published the most recent roadmap for the 2022 IEEE Electron Device Meeting (opens in a new tab).
It describes Intel 4 as “manufacturing ready now” and identifies Meteor Lake as the first target product for the new node.
The 10nm node, often known as Intel 7, reached full volume manufacturing around five years later than originally planned. Intel 4 or the 7nm node is likewise itself significantly behind Intel’s original objectives.
Under new CEO Pat Gelsinger, the company has been exerting a great deal of effort to get its chip production technology back on track, and confirmation that Intel 4 is healthy and ready for production is arguably the first crucial step in Gelisinger’s IDM 2.0 masterplan (opens in new tab) for turning Intel around.
Meteor Lake, of course, will be Intel’s first chiplet-style CPU for consumers. Composed of numerous dies, the CPU cores will be created on Intel’s 4, while the graphics cores will be produced by Taiwanese foundry TSMC on their 5 nm node. Additional I/O and SoC tiles will be constructed on vintage Intel nodes, most likely Intel 7.
It’s worth noting that Intel’s 13th Generation Raptor Lake CPUs (opens in new tab) were only released in September, putting Meteor Lake on a fast track. Meteor Lake is expected to be limited to six performance cores, although both its predecessor, Raptor Lake, and its predecessor, Alder Lake, offered up to eight P-cores.
As a result, it seems doubtful that Meteor Lake will directly replace the whole Raptor Lake portfolio, including the most powerful Core i7 and Core i9 processors.
Meteor Lake is more likely to be a mobile-first architecture with a limited desktop launch. It will replace Raptor Lake processors in the entry-level to mid-range range.
Broadwell architecture, which was the company’s first 14nm consumer processor, was announced as a mobile chip, but it was never fully rolled out on desktops.
The revised roadmap also has the Intel 3 node on track for the second half of next year, with the Intel 20A and the Arrow Lake CPU family arriving in the first half of 2024.
Intel 18A is then scheduled for the second half of 2024, a timeframe that is exceedingly ambitious. If Intel executes all of these strategies, it will have made significant strides in closing the gap with TSMC and reclaiming its traditional position as the world’s most technically advanced chip manufacturer. We’ll be paying close attention.
FAQs
What is Intel’s upcoming laptop CPU?
Intel is extending the 24-core power of its 13th-generation desktop CPUs to laptops. Today at CES, Intel revealed the Core i9-13980HX, its most powerful mobile processor to date. It contains 24 cores (8 performance cores and 16 efficient cores) and a massive 5.6 GHz boost frequency.
What CPU will Intel have in 2023?
At CES 2023, Intel introduced 15 new desktop processors, including 65W and 35W variants. These new SKUs provide improved power efficiency without sacrificing performance in demanding applications such as gaming, content creation, and productivity.
What Intel is after Meteor Lake?
In 2024, Arrow Lake will replace Meteor Lake. As a member of the 14th generation, it will be compatible with Meteor Lake sockets, allowing OEMs to quickly upgrade their notebook designs. Given that the MTL-S desktop chips are in limbo, the DIY release will be eagerly anticipated.
What is Intel’s strongest CPU?
Intel’s Core i9-13900K is the fastest CPU currently available, which is surprising given that it’s not even the most expensive. Despite its high price, the Core i9-13900K undercuts AMD’s competitor, the Ryzen 9 7950X, while outperforming it in many situations.
What generation of CPU should I buy?
If high-end gaming performance is your primary concern, you should get a midrange Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 processor with fast clock speeds. Since the graphics card is more crucial for gaming than the processor, you can save money by not purchasing a Core i7 or Ryzen 7 processor with a higher clock speed.
What is the highest quality CPU?
Ryzen 7 7700 is perhaps the best-value mainstream processor that AMD presently offers, owing to its impressive performance and attractive pricing. This chip has eight CPU cores and a maximum speed of 5.3 GHz. It also supports SMT, which lets you double the number of threads.
What is the fastest CPU speed?
The 64-core, 128-thread Ryzen ThreadRipper 3990X processor for desktop PCs will be the world’s fastest CPU in 2021. The CPU’s base clock of 2.9 GHz and maximum boost clock of 4.3 GHz assist multitasking and quick load times.
Is the CPU more powerful than the SSD?
Solid-state drives (SSDs) can often improve the performance of a computer more than a faster central processing unit (CPU) or random-access memory (RAM).
What is the latest Core in a laptop?
Select from an Intel Core i3, i5, i7, or i9 processor.
| Intel Core i5-11400 | 6 cores | 4.4GHz Turbo |
| Intel Core i7-11700 | 8 cores | 4.9GHz Turbo |
| Intel Core i7-11700K | 8 cores | 5GHz Turbo |
| Intel Core i9-11900K | 8 cores | 5.3GHz Turbo |
| Intel Core i3-10100 (10th Gen) | 4 cores | 4.3GHz Turbo |
