Intel has officially confirmed its next generation of 7 nm Meteor Lake Client CPUs, which will arrive on desktop and mobility platforms in 2023. Intel has revealed that Meteor Lake will be the first launch of its own 7 nm volume EUV node, the that will mark a huge milestone for the company.
Intel Confirms Launch of Next-Generation Meteor Lake CPUs for Desktop and Mobility in 2023, Will Feature 7nm EUV Process Node and All-New Modular x86 CPU Architecture
The Intel Meteor Lake line is now confirmed to present a new x86 architecture that will make use of a modular design. Intel will combine different cores, similar to its hybrid approach in the upcoming Alder Lake CPUs, which will feature 10nm Golden Cove and 10nm Gracemont cores.
We are advancing rapidly in the maturity of the 7 nm process, with a simplified and larger EUV process. The computing block of Lake Meteor, an innovative client processor from 2023, will be recorded in the next quarter. https://t.co/lY5fO1aYAJ pic.twitter.com/WzkJL0gPRw
– Intel News (@intelnews) March 23, 2021
Intel’s Meteor Lake line of desktop and mobility CPUs is expected to be based on a new line of Cove core architecture. It is rumored that this is known as ‘Redwood Cove’, as reported by MLID (Moore’s Law is dead) and will be based on a 7 nm EUV process node. It is said that Redwood Cove was designed from the beginning to be an agnostic knot, which means that it can be manufactured in different factories. There are references mentioned that indicate that TSMC is a reserve or even partial supplier of chips based on Redwood Cove. This can tell us why Intel is declaring several manufacturing processes for the CPU family.
Meteor Lake CPUs may be the first generation of Intel CPUs to bid farewell to the ring bus interconnect architecture. There are also rumors that Meteor Lake could be a fully 3D-Stacked design and could use I / O data from an external factory (TSMC spotted again). It should be noted that Intel will officially use its Foveros Packaging Technology on the CPU to interconnect the various arrays on the chip (XPU).
As for what the Intel Meteor Lake family will offer, the family is expected to have support for the LGA 1700 socket, which is the same socket used by Alder Lake processors. We can expect DDR5 memory and PCIe Gen 5.0 support. The platforms will support DDR5 and DDR4 memories with conventional and budget options going for DDR4 memory DIMMs, while premium and high-end offerings going for DDR5 DIMMs.
NVMe support should also be limited to PCIe Gen 4, instead of PCIe Gen 5, which the platform will support. So, at the end of the day, we can see the various chipsets and platforms being limited only to their own generation of processors with which they were introduced. There are still a few years to go before launch, so Intel partners will have enough time to resolve and work on supporting future generations. Intel has now revealed that it expects Meteor Lake to record around the second quarter of 2021.
Intel Desktop CPU Generation Comparison:
| Intel CPU family | Processor Processor | Processor cores (max) | TDPs | Platform Chipset | Platform | Memory support | PCIe support | Throw |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sandy Bridge (2nd generation) | 32 nm | 4/8 | 35-95W | 6 series | LGA 1155 | DDR3 | PCIe Gen 2.0 | 2011 |
| Ivy Bridge (3rd generation) | 22 nm | 4/8 | 35-77W | 7-Series | LGA 1155 | DDR3 | PCIe Gen 3.0 | 2012 |
| Haswell (4th generation) | 22 nm | 4/8 | 35-84W | 8-Series | LGA 1150 | DDR3 | PCIe Gen 3.0 | 2013-2014 |
| Broadwell (5th generation) | 14 nm | 4/8 | 65-65W | 9-Series | LGA 1150 | DDR3 | PCIe Gen 3.0 | 2015 |
| Skylake (6th generation) | 14 nm | 4/8 | 35-91W | 100-Series | LGA 1151 | DDR4 | PCIe Gen 3.0 | 2015 |
| Lake Kaby (7th generation) | 14 nm | 4/8 | 35-91W | 200 Series | LGA 1151 | DDR4 | PCIe Gen 3.0 | 2017 |
| Coffee Lake (8th generation) | 14 nm | 6/12 | 35-95W | 300-Series | LGA 1151 | DDR4 | PCIe Gen 3.0 | 2017 |
| Coffee Lake (9th generation) | 14 nm | 8/16 | 35-95W | 300-Series | LGA 1151 | DDR4 | PCIe Gen 3.0 | 2018 |
| Comet Lake (10th generation) | 14 nm | 10/20 | 35-125W | 400-Series | LGA 1200 | DDR4 | PCIe Gen 3.0 | 2020 |
| Rocket Lake (11th generation) | 14 nm | 8/16 | TBA | 500-Series | LGA 1200 | DDR4 | PCIe Gen 4.0 | 2021 |
| Lago Alder (12th generation) | 10 nm (ESF) | 16/24? | TBA | 600 Series? | LGA 1700 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0? | 2021 |
| Raptor Lake (13th generation) | 10 nm (ESF) | 16/24? | TBA | 700 series? | LGA 1700 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0? | 2022 |
| Meteor Lake (14th generation) | 7nm (EUV) | TBA | TBA | 800 series? | LGA 1700 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0? | 2023 |
| Lunar Lake (15th generation) | TBA | TBA | TBA | 900 series? | TBA | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0? | 2023+ |