Intel Sets Course for the Future with Panther Lake and 18A Technology

As part of CES 2025, Intel announced exciting news: The tech giant has started sending samples of its highly anticipated 'lead 18A product', the Panther Lake processor for client computers, to PC manufacturers. These processors are expected to go into mass production in the second half of the year using the 18A process technology, which is likely to position Intel promisingly for the fiscal year. In the continuously growing AI market, Intel plans to expand its product range with the Panther Lake processor. In an official statement, the company emphasized that 70% of the processors are produced in-house, suggesting lower costs and higher profit margins. The Panther Lake processor is expected to be introduced as a notebook product, replacing the Arrow Lake and Lunar Lake laptop processors. However, it remains open which processors will replace the Arrow Lake for desktops. Particularly noteworthy is Intel's 18A technology, based on RibbonFET transistors and featuring a novel power supply called PowerVia. This is significant for high-performance data center processors, though whether it will be used in the Panther Lake CPUs with a base power specification of 45W is still uncertain. Another highlight is the Clearwater Forest processor, also based on 18A technology, intended for data centers and already capable of booting operating systems. The 18A technology will also be available for external customers of the Intel Foundry Service for the first time, giving it significant importance at the start of production. Intel states that it is superior in terms of competitive advantage to TSMC's 3nm and 2nm technologies set to appear between 2024 and 2025. The first external customer is expected to finalize the design in the first half of 2025, with mass production in the first half of 2026. This schedule places Intel’s 18A behind TSMC’s N2 technology in the market, planned for high volume in the second half of 2025. Nevertheless, Intel's Panther Lake will already come to market in the second half of this year, experiencing a market launch earlier than TSMC's N2.