“Announcement date unchanged” – Intel denies Panther Lake delay rumors due to 18A tech issues

Speculation by one industry analyst about a possible delay in the market launch of Intel’s Panther Lake processors attracted the attention of the company’s corporate vice president John Pitzer, who considered it necessary to clarify that there had been no changes to the schedule for mastering Intel’s 18A process technology.

Image source: Intel, Walden Kirsch

«”I wake up every morning looking at social media like X for Intel 18A rumors, so I want to be very clear,” an Intel representative began his explanation during a keynote at the Morgan Stanley technology conference. “Panther Lake is scheduled to ship in the second half of this year. The announcement date has not changed. We are very pleased with the progress we are making,” Pitzer added. In fact, he explained, if you look at the yield of Panther Lake, it is now slightly higher than Meteor Lake at a comparable point in its life cycle.

In terms of comparing Intel’s 18A process technology with TSMC’s N2 technology, Pitzer admitted that the company itself compares its solution with competitors’ N2 or N3 technologies. In addition, as the Intel representative added, in the first half of this year the company will have a digital design for the first product for a third-party client, which will be manufactured using Intel’s 18A technology. The management is quite pleased with the progress made in this area.

Panther Lake is scheduled to be announced in the second half of this year, according to Pitzer. However, although Intel introduced Meteor Lake processors in the second half of 2023, real shipments will not begin until 2024. Lunar Lake processors were introduced in the second half of last year, but only this year will shipments reach significant levels. “In reality, it will not be until next year that (Panther Lake) shipments reach levels that will significantly improve the profit margin of the entire company,” Intel’s vice president of investor relations led the audience to the idea of ​​​​the “stretched” introduction of the new family of processors to the market.

The company representative also touched on the topic of postponing the announcement of Clearwater Forest server processors. Their announcement was previously postponed from this year to the first half of next year. According to Pitzer, Intel has already noted earlier that the delay was not caused by problems at the level of silicon wafers manufactured using 18A technology, since everything is fine with this. Difficulties with the production of Clearwater Forest arose at the level of chip packaging, since Intel intends to use hybrid fusion technology for the first time in their release. “The good news is that this problem has now been resolved,” Pitzer explained. In the second half of this year, Clearwater Forest samples will be sent to Intel customers.

The company’s vice president, when describing the possible areas of application of the Intel 18A process technology by third-party customers, stated that this technology may be of interest to developers of high-performance components, but in the mobile segment this cannot be counted on.

Summing up the description of the current state of affairs with the development of the Intel 18A process technology, the company representative added that the announcement of Panther Lake is scheduled for the second half of the year, and this is fully consistent with the previously planned schedule. The digital project on Intel 18A technology for the company’s first external client will be ready in the current half of the year. Intel is ready to mention further involvement of third-party clients in this area only with their permission, so it is not a fact that such information will be officially disclosed in a timely manner.