The upcoming Intel Panther Lake processor series is said to feature 16 CPU cores and third-generation Celestial GPU units. The lineup seems to focus on efficiency overall, with enough graphical power to rival its competition.
According to @Prakhar6200 on X (Twitter), Intel’s Panther Lake processor architecture will have three main core layouts comprising 4P+0E+4e alongside four Xe3 on U series chips. The ‘P’ stands for Performance, ‘E’ for Efficient, and ‘e’ for Low Power Efficient cores. Meanwhile, the H series sports a 4P+8E+4e arrangement with four or eight Xe3. Intel will supposedly manufacture CPU cores using an 18A node, leaving the GPU portion to TSMC’s N3E. This indicates that Team Blue will still rely on external fabs for some of its products.
Performance cores are based on the new Cougar Cove architecture, whereas the efficient ones will keep using Skymont. Whispers suggest the combination will be 35% more efficient than Lunar Lake while offering up to 50% more multi-core performance compared to Meteor Lake-U.
The integrated GPU, on the other hand, is reportedly based on Arc Celestial Xe3 architecture. This third-gen GPU design supposedly brings a 40% uplift over Battlemage Xe2. However, we don’t know if the comparison takes into account that Panther Lake’s iGPU carries 12 Xe3 cores instead of eight Xe2 cores.
As you can guess from the core layout, these are mobile-oriented models that focus on efficiency first. Moreover, since we are full on the AI hype train, Intel plans to continue integrating artificial intelligence capabilities with Panther Lake offerings. All of these aspects should get further details as we come closer to launch.