In its latest earnings call on Thursday, Intel finally provided a release timeline for its next-generation desktop family codenamed “Nova Lake.” Set to arrive in 2026, Nova Lake is said to succeed the existing Arrow Lake series, though we aren’t sure if these CPUs will retain LGA-1851 compatibility. Furthermore, co-CEO Michelle’s comments assert that some parts of Nova Lake will be outsourced to external foundries, likely TSMC, but that much was already expected.
Tempering expectations and working within means, Intel has delayed its Clearwater Forest server CPUs to 2026. Similarly, Falcon Shores, succeeding Gaudi 3, is now axed and will be used as an internal chip to help shape software and hardware support around Intel’s hybrid approach. That bit was disappointing, but it spared us a greater letdown from a rushed, half-baked release.
Michelle Holthaus, interim co-CEO of Intel, reasserted that Panther Lake, powered by Intel 18A, is on track for the second half of 2025. We spotted a few Panther Lake-H powered laptops at CES, wielding 12 cores (likely Cougar Cove/Darkmont) and an Xe3-powered integrated GPU. She further detailed that Nova Lake is planned for a 2026 release: “2026 is even more exciting from a client perspective as Panther Lake achieved meaningful volumes, and we introduced our next-generation client family codenamed Nova Lake.”
“Nova Lake will have die(s) both inside [Intel Foundry] and outside for that process. So, you’ll actually see compute tiles inside and outside.”
Former CEO Pat Gelsinger said 70% of Panther Lake would be built on Intel Foundry silicon. This number is expected to improve with Nova Lake, though Intel will still rely on external foundries (TSMC or even Samsung) for some variants or tiles. Regarding internal nodes, Intel hasn’t named a definitive node for Nova Lake. However, if things go as planned, 14A is a possible candidate as equivalent bleeding-edge nodes from TSMC might be a costlier alternative.
We’re still in the dark about specifications; however, Nova Lake is rumored to address the flaw that is crippling Arrow Lake: Memory latency. Reportedly, while the IMC is still separated from the Compute Tile, Intel is allegedly working on several optimizations to negate the effects of an off-die memory controller. Shipping records indicate that Nova Lake test chips are undergoing validation as we speak.
There wasn’t any comment on platform support for Nova Lake, which could make LGA-1851 one of the shortest-lived platforms in Intel’s history. This will come with the inconvenience of spending extra cash on a new motherboard and possibly even a new DDR6 memory, but that’s just a guess.
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