Intel's 18A process node and the that will be the first to use it are together looking like an absolutely critical turning point for the beleaguered chip maker. The good news for Intel is that Panther Lake is shaping up to be a killer mobile CPU,
if the latest reports are accurate.
First up, according to some device ID listings uncovered by (via ), Panther Lake will be getting Intel's next-gen Darkmont E-cores, not the Skymont E-cores already seen in the Arrow Lake generation of CPUs.
A fair chunk of that step from 120 to 180 TOPS is likely to come from Panther Lake's GPU, arguably the most exciting element of the new chip. It not only gets an upgrade to , but it also steps up from the eight graphics Battlemage-spec cores in Lunar Lake to 12 cores.
It's fairly likely Celestial will be more performant per core than Battlemage. So, an expectation of over 50% more raw performance is reasonable, though that will not necessarily translate into 50%-plus higher in-game frame rates.
For the record, Panther Lake will also get Intel's new Cougar Cove P-cores. The top SKU is reported to be a chip with four P-Cores, eight E-cores and a further four low-power E-cores, perhaps of a lower Skymont specification.
Anyhow, Panther Lake certainly has the makings of a fantastic chip for handheld gaming PCs. On paper, it should have the measure of AMD's latest Strix Point APU, .
Intel's current Lunar Lake chip, , is pretty competitive with AMD's Strix Point chip, as it is. Add 50% more graphics cores and it should really fly.
Moreover, the success of the Panther Lake mobile CPU and its Celestial iGPU should help encourage Intel to keep faith with GPUs generally and roll out a discrete Celestial-based graphics card for desktop gaming PCs. Goodness knows, we need as much competition as we can get in that space.