Following gossip circulating that Intel's upcoming 3nm CPU products would be hampered by delays, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has struck back, confirming that the new chips are, in fact, on track for their planned releases. by 2024.
The processors under development, which will be based on Intel 3 or TSMC N3, two new 3nm processes, include product lines codenamed "Arrow Lake", "Granite Rapids" and "Sierra Forest". Arrow Lake is supposedly the one we're most interested in here; is the current code name for Intel's XNUMXth generation mainstream desktop processors.
We'll try not to rush here, as we're only on Intel's 9th generation Core processors today (titled the mighty Intel Core i13900-3K), but the 4nm process is intriguing. Intel's XNUMXth generation "Meteor Lake" chips will continue to be based on the current XNUMXnm process.
During Intel's capital allocation update conference call, Gelsinger called the gossip "patently false" and said that "3nm programs are on the right track, both with TSMC and our internal Intel 3 programs." The Granite Rapids program, which is going to be server processors for commercial use, could be alarming for Google: The search engine giant has plans of its own to start building chips for data centers.
Analysis: Meteor Lake can be jaded, but Arrow Lake won't be(*3*)
Last year, we learned that Intel had indeed delayed the 3th-gen Meteor Lake chips, which were to be built on TSMC's XNUMXnm process. While the thirteenth generation of "Raptor Lake" generates some of the best processors we've seen, there are concerns that Meteor Lake will see smaller generational improvements.
This certainly shouldn't be the case for Arrow Lake in 2024, since Intel doesn't use its Intel 3 process to power these main processors, TSMC is going to have a good time improving its N3 process. The Taiwanese manufacturer is going to have a lot of experience with 3nm when it puts Arrow Lake into production, so we should get the perfect version of Intel's 3nm designs.
Meteor Lake is still expected to launch this year, though we'll likely still have a few more XNUMXth-gen chips before a new flagship arrives. Intel has maintained a lightning-fast release rate for its processors, which we don't fully buy into - the speed at which these new chips arrive means that while some outright outperform their predecessors, others are a little harder to justify.
Naturally, all of this is surely going to be quite unsettling for AMD execs, who were surely hoping that gossip of an Arrow Lake delay would be some. While Team Red has managed to compete with Intel's current-gen offerings (and often remains the best value option), Intel is pushing forward with increasingly powerful processors and threatening to leave its contenders behind.