Buzz
Currently, Intel's 13th generation processor, known as 'Raptor Lake,' utilizes the Raptor Cove architecture. Recent information from Dr. Ian Cutress on Twitter reveals that users will welcome a completely new microarchitecture in the Lunar Lake generation. Specifically, we are currently at Raptor Lake with Intel 7 process, followed by Meteor Lake (Intel 4), then Arrow Lake (Intel 20A), before Lunar Lake arrives (Intel 18A).https://twitter.com/IanCutress/status/1613609998386331673
Naturally, architectural innovation never remains stagnant. In the succeeding generation, Redwood Cove will follow Raptor Cove, paving the path for a new architecture on Intel's 20A process for Arrow Lake. As shared by Dr. Ian Cutress and confirmed by Michelle Holthaus, Lunar Lake boasts an entirely fresh architecture, implying it's built from the ground up, not upgraded from the old architecture. Lunar Lake will prioritize achieving the best performance per watt for mobile devices. More in-depth information will be disclosed on January 26th, when Intel announces its Q4 financial results.
In Intel's current roadmap, Lunar Lake is at the final stage, likely to adopt a 'tile stacking' packaging approach similar to what the company is planning for Meteor Lake and Arrow Lake. Lunar Lake is manufactured on Intel's most advanced process - Intel 18A - utilizing RibbonFET semiconductors instead of FinFET. Moreover, Lunar Lake will employ Foveros for vertical stacking instead of a single-plane stacking. It's unclear whether Intel will release Lunar Lake models for the desktop segment, as this generation focuses on perf/watt, low power consumption. Rumors suggest that the desktop version of Lunar Lake will maintain a similar core count to Raptor Lake, with 24 cores and 32 threads. With a completely new architectural design, Lunar Lake will feature new CPU, GPU, and VPU components, including the second-generation Xe GPU.
