Intel has confirmed its CPU trim to the near future
Panther Lake is expected later in 2025, and Nova Lake in 2026
It is still not made clear if Panther Lake will skip desktop, but it seems that Next-genes Desktop CPUs are first here
Intel has confirmed its future CPU plans and how the company’s intended roadmap will pan over 2025 and 2026, albeit, while leaving questions about certain details.
We got a confirmation of existing plans – that Panther Lake is expected this year, and Nova Lake next year – but there is still no assurance of whether we will get a new generation of desktop -CPUs later in 2025 (in other words, if Intel will stick to his usual annual cadence).
As Videocardz reports, it is that Intel’s current (temporary) Co-Ceo Michelle Johnston Holthaus revealed during a recent earnings call that we can expect Team Blue to release Panther Lake Silicon, its next generation, in the second half of 2025.
Holthaus then observed: “2026 is even more exciting from a client perspective as Panther Lake achieves meaningful quantities and we introduce our next generation client family the codename Nova Lake.
“Both will provide strong performance across the entire PC stack with significantly better costs and margins for us, which improves our competitive position and strengthens our value proposition to our partners and customers.”
(Image Credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Okay, so the next generation of Panther Lake is still due later in 2025, and 2026 will be the year of Nova Lake, the following generation. Good to know, or rather, to have it confirmed again.
The question is: What form will Panther Lake and Nova Lake Tage exactly? The current rumor is that Panther Lake will only be mobile chips, which means just laptops, not stationary PCs. The sight of the next generation’s desktop chips via the rumor mill is only limited to Nova Lake (so far and it will be late in the day now).
Based on what Intel’s Co-Ceo says here, there is no specific mention of desktop CPUs, so it’s not useful. What we get from Holthaus, however, is a claim that “both will provide strong performance across the entire PC stack”, and the key word here is ‘both’ of course.
“The whole PC stack” means mobile and desktop, the works and what seems to be stated here is that both Panther Lake and Nova Lake together will cover the entire PC stack between them. This is still true if Panther Lake does not have a desktop -ink barnation.
Alternatively you could read this as both Panther Lake and Nova Lake will Separate Cover the full stack, both desktop and mobile, in their own right – but it doesn’t feel like the intention here. Know I mean, for me, it seems to be a way of formulating things that are deliberately ambiguous to shine on whether Panther Lake wants a desktop presence or not.
Take it for what you want of course and we definitely don’t know for sure. Maybe Intel Panther Lake Desktop has chips in the works, but based on rumors it seems relatively unlikely.
Another alternative may be that Panther Lake is only a laptop, but Intel could get an Arrow Lake update on desktop later this year with it, as a stop before Nova Lake Desktop CPUs in 2026. Remember, that’s what Raptor Lake happened and it was a much less generational shock – but earlier rumors have claimed that Intel will not perform such a update with Arrow Lake for desktops.
In the end, it seems to me for now that the probability is that Intel’s next gene-desk-top-silicium will not be here until 2026 when Nova Lake blows into the city.
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