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Intel leveraged its platform at CES to unveil the Core Ultra Series 3, codenamed "Panther Lake," confirming the processor will be the first commercial product built on the company’s flagship 18A process node. Executives announced that the new chips are currently in production and ramping, with the first consumer systems scheduled to ship by late 2025, marking a critical milestone in Intel’s IDM 2.0 strategy.
Key Points
- 18A Debut: Panther Lake is the first product manufactured on Intel’s 18A node, featuring RibbonFET and PowerVia technologies.
- Performance Leap: The Core Ultra Series 3 delivers a 60% performance increase over the Lunar Lake (Series 2) generation.
- Graphics Overhaul: The integrated Arc B390 GPU offers 70% better gaming performance and supports AI-based multi-frame generation.
- Efficiency Gains: Architectural changes allow for multi-day battery life potential through a dedicated low-power island.
- New Form Factors: Intel announced a dedicated handheld gaming platform and robust support for edge computing.
The 18A Manufacturing Milestone
The announcement centers on the successful deployment of the 18A process technology. After five years of aggressive investment in R&D and fabrication capacity, Intel confirmed that 18A is now production-ready. This node is significant as it introduces two novel technologies: RibbonFET (gate-all-around transistors) and PowerVia (backside power delivery).
According to Intel, this technological foundation allows for higher density and efficiency. The company stated that the Core Ultra Series 3 is currently ramping production, validating their timeline to deliver products by the end of 2025.
"In the last five years, we've invested heavily in capital, R&D, new fabs, new tools... 18A is the center of that effort. This is a big milestone as the world's first foundry node with RibbonFET and PowerVia technologies."
Architecture and Efficiency Improvements
The Core Ultra Series 3 features a redesigned architecture utilizing Foveros advanced packaging. This allows Intel to move the GPU tile to its own chiplet, offering the flexibility to attach different sized chiplets based on market segment needs. Additionally, the design consolidates all I/O onto a single chip, a direct response to requests from customer design teams seeking to streamline integration.
Performance metrics released during the event highlight a significant generational leap. The Series 3 processors reportedly deliver 60% more performance than the preceding Lunar Lake Series 2. Efficiency was a primary engineering focus, with the implementation of a "low power island"—a dedicated section of the chip with its own E-cores and cache designed to handle background workloads.
Intel claims this architecture dramatically extends runtimes, stating the reduction in power consumption allows them to measure battery life "in days, not in hours."
Graphics and AI Capabilities
The graphical capabilities of Panther Lake are driven by the new Intel Arc B390 graphics (previously referred to as 12Xe). The specifications include 50% more graphics cores and double the cache compared to previous generations. Intel projects a 70% increase in gaming performance and a 50% boost in AI inference capabilities.
A key feature of the new GPU is "Modern Rendering," which integrates AI into the visual pipeline. The Arc B390 will be the first integrated graphics solution to ship with AI-based multi-frame generation enabled on day one. This technology can deliver three AI-generated frames for every single rendered frame, significantly smoothing visual output in demanding applications.
Regarding Artificial Intelligence, the platform achieves up to 180 total platform TOPS (Tera Operations Per Second), with 120 TOPS derived specifically from the GPU’s XMX AI accelerators. This allows the hardware to handle substantial local workloads, such as running a 70-billion parameter model within a 32k context.
Market Expansion: Handhelds and the Edge
Intel is aggressively expanding the Core Ultra footprint beyond traditional laptops. The company announced the launch of a dedicated handheld gaming platform powered by Panther Lake, positioning itself to compete directly in the growing portable gaming market.
Furthermore, Intel is targeting the edge computing sector, noting that constrained data center infrastructure is driving demand for local processing. The company claims the Series 3 chips offer two times better latency performance for Large Language Models (LLMs) and improved Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for video analytics compared to previous iterations.
"In a world with growing constraints on data center infrastructure, more AI can—and we believe will—move to the edge. But it won't be exclusively client. It has to work seamlessly with the cloud."
What's Next
With Core Ultra Series 3 ramping now, Intel’s partners have already initiated over 200 designs across various form factors. First consumer designs are available to order starting immediately, setting the stage for a broad retail rollout leading into late 2025. The focus now shifts to execution, as the market awaits third-party benchmarking to validate the performance-per-watt claims of the 18A process.
