Fab 52 houses Intel’s 18A in-house manufacturing process, which includes a new transistor design and a method of delivering energy to the chip more efficiently [File]
| Photo Credit: REUTERS
Intel plans to release technical details about its forthcoming chip for laptops, known as Panther Lake, on Thursday, four sources briefed on the plans told Reuters. It is part of an effort to reassure investors about Intel’s first product made entirely using its next-generation manufacturing process called 18A, the sources said.
The Panther Lake chips are the company’s high-end mobile processors that are typically included in more expensive laptops and are the first high-volume Intel products to use the 18A process that the company has spent billions developing. In part because of manufacturing stumbles, Intel has steadily ceded laptop and PC market share to rival Advanced Micro Devices. Panther Lake represents an opportunity to reverse some of the losses.
The company conducted hours of technical briefings and factory tours in Arizona for industry analysts last week on the new Panther Lake microarchitecture, including detailed explanations of the graphics and central processor cores and its media engine, according to the sources. Intel revealed a redesigned AI engine and the company’s efficiency and performance processor cores, which were redesigned for the 18A manufacturing process.
The last-generation laptop chip called Lunar Lake was primarily made by Intel rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
Intel executives have said the Panther Lake chips will be available early in 2026, according to the sources. The new chips use 30% less energy than the prior generation, and its graphics and central processors will receive a 50% boost in their ability to crunch data in some situations, according to a second source briefed on the chips.
The technical briefings conducted last week for a group of analysts and journalists underscored the importance of Panther Lake’s success to Intel, which has struggled to manufacture the cutting-edge chips.
An Intel spokesperson said the company holds technical briefings in the autumn most years on various topics but declined to comment further. In July, the chipmaker reported a second-quarter loss of $2.9 billion and disclosed that if it did not secure a customer for its planned future 14A manufacturing process, it would suspend work on it.
After U.S. President Donald Trump called for the resignation of Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan in August, Intel attracted investments from SoftBank Group and Nvidia. After Tan met with Trump and other officials in the White House, the administration worked out a deal to transform a CHIPS Act grant into a 9.9% equity stake in the company.
Last week, as part of the briefings, Intel conducted a tour for reporters and industry analysts of its factories in Arizona, including one called Fab 52, the people said. Intel broke ground on Fab 52 in 2021 as part of former CEO Pat Gelsinger’s multibillion-dollar global expansion plan to compete with TSMC in the contract manufacturing business.
Fab 52 houses Intel’s 18A in-house manufacturing process, which includes a new transistor design and a method of delivering energy to the chip more efficiently. The tour aimed to demonstrate Intel’s manufacturing prowess and show off the chip factory, or fab, that it will use for high-volume manufacturing of Panther Lake chips.
Reuters did not attend this tour. Intel executives did not discuss the current Panther Lake yields, or the number of good chips that Intel is capable of producing, according to the people. Reuters reported in August that over the summer the Panther Lake yield was roughly 10%, up from 5% late last year.
Published – October 08, 2025 09:22 am IST
