At the quarterly earnings conference yesterday, Intel representatives made it clear that the Panther Lake processors, manufactured using Intel 18A technology, will enter production in the bulk of their range only next year. In fact, only one model will be released by the end of this year.
Photo from 2023. Image source: Intel
This can be judged from the words of Michelle Johnston Holthaus, head of the Intel product division: “Panther Lake really coincides with the way Meteor Lake and Lunar Lake were introduced to the market, with consumers getting the most powerful product first, and then additional models coming out in the first quarter that will help form the line for the commercial market.” She also added that Panther Lake looks very good from a competitive point of view, and customers are showing enough interest in it. Before this, CEO Lip-Bu Tan also noted that the first model (SKU) of Panther Lake processors will be released by the end of this year, and all the others will appear in 2026.
In the server segment, as Ms. Johnston Holthouse explained, Clearwater Forest processors will appear in the first half of 2026. The latter imply the use of a unique packaging technology, so they will be released with some delay relative to consumer Panther Lake processors. Clearwater Forest processors will use the so-called E-type cores, which are distinguished by reduced power consumption, but architecturally they are a derivative form of Granite Rapids. There are no deviations from the planned dates for the launch of Panther Lake and Clearwater Forest processors, as the Intel representative summarized.