Intel's next-gen "Intel 4" process is on track heading into volume production in 2H 2022, according to the very latest information from DigiTimes.
The site reports that "Intel 4, formally known as Intel's 7nm process, is on track to get ready for volume production in the second half of 2022, according to the chip vendor". Intel has been lagging behind in its process node for years now, but have slowly been playing catch up... the Intel 4 process node is a re-branded Intel 7nm node, just so you know.
But, the new Intel 4 process node is the star of the show when it comes to the next-gen 14th Gen Core "Meteor Lake" CPU series, which will be launching in 2023. Intel will also be using its upcoming Intel 4 process node for its enterprise-level Granite Rapids CPUs, too.
- Read more: Intel retires +++ scheme: Intel 7, Intel 4, Intel 3, Intel 20A nodes
- Read more: Intel promises process node leadership with 5nm... but in 2022+++
- Read more: Intel CEO: 14th Gen Core 'Meteor Lake' powered on, launches in 2023
- Read more: Intel 14th Gen Core 'Meteor Lake': 15-21% IPC boost over Raptor Lake
- Read more: Intel 14th Gen Core 'Meteor Lake-P' die shot: 6P+8E configuration
The next-gen Intel Meteor Lake CPUs will be the first chiplet-designed CPU from the company, joining the chiplet family of CPUs from AMD. Intel will be building Meteor Lake on Intel 4, using a new flexible tiled architecture with hybrid CPU cores, lower power, a next-gen graphics engine known as 'tGPU', and integrated AI acceleration.
Intel will be using 3 main tiles on Intel's next-gen Meteor Lake CPUs: the I/O Tile, the SoC Tile, and the Compute Tile. Intel's Compute Tile on the 14th Gen Core CPUs will pack both the CPU + GPU Tile, with the CPU Tile using the new hybrid core design -- pushing higher performance at lower power numbers, while the GPU Tile is truly something else.
Just a few months ago in April 2022, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger announced its next-gen Meteor Lake CPUs hitting the successful milestone of booting into operating systems and into a web browser. Gelsinger said: "Intel 4 Meteor Lake has now successfully booted Windows, Chrome, and Linux. The speed at which the team was able to achieve this milestone is a significant sign of the health of both Meteor Lake and our Intel 4 process technology".
Meteor Lake will pack up to double the graphics Execution Units of Alder Lake/Raptor Lake CPUs (96 versus 192) meaning we can expect some major GPU performance improvements with 14th Gen Core "Meteor Lake" CPUs in 2023. As for the power consumption, we're looking at 5W through to 125W depending on the core count -- which will be between low-end laptops, through to high-end desktop CPUs -- and we all can't wait.