Intel reportedly building a completely new architecture for 17th-gen Lunar Lake: Specs, expected launch date, and more

Intel is reportedly building a completely new architecture for its 17th-gen Lunar Lake CPUs, according to rumors originally reported by Dr. Ian Cutress of TechTechPotato. The chipmaker will be transitioning into a 20A process node within a couple of years, with large-scale manufacturing slated to begin towards the end of 2023.

The company launched its 13th-gen Raptor Lake lineup of CPUs in Fall 2022. This year, it is expected to launch a refresher of the lineup to reuse the Raptor Cove architecture. The new chips may use the LGA 1700 socket or shift to a larger LGA 1800 socket.

The Meteor Lake lineup is expected to launch in 2024. However, according to recent leaks, the architecture stands canceled. Instead of Meteor Lake, Team Blue is now prepping the Arrow Lake and Arrow Lake Refresh lineups for possibly its 15th-gen and 16th-gen lineups, as previously leaked.

More details on the future of Intel Core architecture and lineups surfaced recently. At this time, info on the company's 18A process node, which will be used in the 17th-gen Lunar Lake, has been leaked.

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More details and specs of the Intel 17th-gen Lunar Lake Core architecture

An overview of the upcoming Intel architectures (Image via Hot Chips)

Based on the leaked slides, the Lunar Lake architecture will be based on the Intel Next process node. For a bit of context, the Alder Lake and Raptor Lake CPUs are based on the Intel 7 process node. The next generation of CPUs, namely Meteor Lake, will be using Intel 4.

The Blue Camp is expected to shift to Intel 20A with its Arrow Lake lineup of CPUs. Intel Next will reportedly be the Intel 18A process node.

The company has showcased the concept for the scalable 17th-gen Lunar Lake architecture. The upcoming 17th-gen SoCs will pack three components: a GPU, an xPU, and the CPU.

It is worth noting that Intel will be applying the advantages of its Monolithic architecture to these CPUs. The chips will employ a 3D Monolithic Multi-layer stacking to multiply the thermal and performance envelope.

Initial reports suggested that Lunar Lake will primarily be targeted at low-power mobile devices. However, this does not suggest that the chips will not make their way into the desktop client space.

Intel will refresh their Raptor Lake and Arrow Lake offerings based on further increases in chip support, as per the information available at the moment.

Thus, the sub-20A 17th-gen Lunar Lake CPUs will not be available anytime soon. According to estimates, the processor might enter the market in 2025.