Intel confirms P-Core, E-Core architectures for Core Ultra 400 series 'Nova Lake' CPUs

Intel has just confirmed that its next-gen Core Ultra 400 series "Nova Lake" desktop CPUs will feature Coyote Cove P-Cores and Arctic Wolf E-Cores.

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In its new 59th Edition of the ISA Extensions Reference, Intel packs in details for its next-generation architectures that will power its next-gen Nova Lake desktop CPUs and its next-gen Diamond Rapids server Xeon CPUs. Both of these new CPUs will be launching in 2026, with full details on the P-Core and E-Core architectures.

Intel will be launching its next-gen Panther Lake laptop CPUs next week, but in 2026 we'll see a new family of consumer desktops CPUs in the new Core Ultra 400 "Nova Lake" CPU family. We've had plenty of leaks over the last year, but now Intel has officially confirmed that Nova Lake will feature Coyote Cove P-Cores and Arctic Wolf E-Cores, successors to the Cougar Cove P-Core and Darkmont E-Core architectures to the soon-to-be-released Panther Lake CPUs.

The new P-Core and E-Core architectures will provide some big changes, including IPC performance improvements, as well as performance-per-watt optimizations.

We should expect to see the Intel Nova Lake-S desktop CPUs to feature up to 52 cores, while the Nova Lake mobile family will feature up to 28 cores, as well as a next-gen graphics tile based on the new Xe3 GPU architecture, and the desktop Nova Lake CPUs will ship on a shiny new LGA 1954 socket (so new motherboards, everyone).

On the server side of things, Intel's next-gen Diamond Rapids Xeon CPUs will utilize the Panther Cove P-Core architecture, a small upgrade over the Cougar Cove P-Cores, which will debut with Panther Lake laptop CPUs later this year. Intel's new Diamond Rapids "Xeon 7" processors will feature up to 256 cores and will be released in 2H 2026 without SMT support, something Intel made a big boo-boo with, later acknowledging its mistake, and will bring it back in the future.