News Intel details 18A process technology — boosts performance by 25% or lowers power consumption by 36%

[Admin]

Intel has fully detailed its 18A (1.8nm-class) process at VLSI 2025, highlighting major performance, power, and density improvements enabled by RibbonFET transistors and PowerVia backside power delivery.

Intel details 18A process technology — boosts performance by 25% or lowers power consumption by 36% : Read more

 

[TerryLaze]

Intel has fully detailed its 18A (1.8nm-class) process at VLSI 2025, highlighting major performance, power, and density improvements enabled by RibbonFET transistors and PowerVia backside power delivery.

Intel details 18A process technology — boosts performance by 25% or lowers power consumption by 36% : Read more

They made an arm core on intel 3?!?!
How is that not the news?
So could they use intel 3 to make arm, and maybe other, cores for customers?!

It manages to achieve this without increasing voltage or circuit complexity when running a typical Arm core sub-block, implemented using a 180CH HD library at 1.1. When operating at the same clocks and 1.1V voltage, it also cuts power usage by 36% compared to the same design on Intel 3. At a reduced voltage of 0.75V, 18A offers an 18% speed increase and uses 38% less energy. Furthermore, designs fabricated on 18A occupy roughly 28% less area than those built with Intel 3.

 

[S58_is_the_goat]

Let's all hope it's not delayed like 10mm was... we don't need any more 14nm++++++++ jokes.

 

[dalek1234]

Comparing 18A to Intel 3 node doesn't say much. Intel 3 is a slightly improved Intel 4 which used to be called 7nm which is probably the wort node Intel ever came up with.

And if you pick the power-saving option in 18A vs the performance option, then you get less power usage and zero performance gain. Given that intel3/4 CPU's suck way to much power, sucking a 1/3 less (which is an improvement but not a good enough one) while not improving performance, is not looking good for Intel.

 

[EzzyB]

They made an arm core on intel 3?!?!
How is that not the news?
So could they use intel 3 to make arm, and maybe other, cores for customers?!

Here's all I could find with a quick search. Apparently Intel was using ARM a LONG time ago (early 2000's). Doesn't prove much except that Intel has manufactured ARM chips in the past.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XScale

 

[TerryLaze]

Comparing 18A to Intel 3 node doesn't say much. Intel 3 is a slightly improved Intel 4 which used to be called 7nm which is probably the wort node Intel ever came up with.

And if you pick the power-saving option in 18A vs the performance option, then you get less power usage and zero performance gain. Given that intel3/4 CPU's suck way to much power, sucking a 1/3 less (which is an improvement but not a good enough one) while not improving performance, is not looking good for Intel.

Draw a vertical line at 125w which is the base power of intel, the 14900k is at about 1700 points so 25% above that would put it above the 285k at that power.

Being able to push stupid amounts of power into a cpu without it blowing up is extremely different from the CPU using that much power.

https://www.computerbase.de/artikel...-ultra-200s-285k-265k-245k-test.90019/seite-5

 

[DS426]

SRAM cell density isn't even close to TSMC's 2nm. That would be a non-starter in some applications, would it not?

Gains look decent comparing Apples to Apples, but what happens when customers compare Apples to Oranges (Intel to TSMC) and pricing is also a main consideration?

 

[thestryker]

They made an arm core on intel 3?!?!
How is that not the news?
So could they use intel 3 to make arm, and maybe other, cores for customers?!

How is any of this news to you?

Anything can be manufactured on any node so long as the chip is designed for it. In this case it's likely a very basic controller type test chip they use for testing nodes. I'd be surprised if this hadn't been a standard for many years given how Arm scales down so well.

 

[thestryker]

Given that intel3/4 CPU's suck way to much power,

Care to back this up with any evidence?

which is probably the wort node Intel ever came up with.

Based on what exactly? Your feelings?

 

[thestryker]

Part of me wonders if the lack of higher voltage support is why there aren't any desktop CPUs planned with PTL. If this is the case then perhaps that's where the usage of N2 comes in for NVL. This may also be the performance part they're referring to when talking about 18A-P.

The only client part currently being manufactured with Intel 3 is MTL and it's a good improvement in clocks over Intel 4 at the same power. I imagine the clocks on PTL probably aren't going to be a lot higher so I'd bet on higher base clocks and an emphasis on maintaining clock speeds.

165U v 265U (12W min/15W base/57W turbo):
Max Turbo Frequency
4.9 GHz v 5.3 GHz
Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency
4.9 GHz v 5.3 GHz
Efficient-core Max Turbo Frequency
3.8 GHz v 4.2 GHz
Performance-core Base Frequency
1.7 GHz v 2.1 GHz
Efficient-core Base Frequency
1.2 GHz v 1.7 GHz

 

[Mr Majestyk]

Part of me wonders if the lack of higher voltage support is why there aren't any desktop CPUs planned with PTL. If this is the case then perhaps that's where the usage of N2 comes in for NVL. This may also be the performance part they're referring to when talking about 18A-P.

The only client part currently being manufactured with Intel 3 is MTL and it's a good improvement in clocks over Intel 4 at the same power. I imagine the clocks on PTL probably aren't going to be a lot higher so I'd bet on higher base clocks and an emphasis on maintaining clock speeds.

165U v 265U (12W min/15W base/57W turbo):
Max Turbo Frequency
4.9 GHz v 5.3 GHz
Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency
4.9 GHz v 5.3 GHz
Efficient-core Max Turbo Frequency
3.8 GHz v 4.2 GHz
Performance-core Base Frequency
1.7 GHz v 2.1 GHz
Efficient-core Base Frequency
1.2 GHz v 1.7 GHz

Well ,Panther Lake is going to have higher core counts than Lunar Lake and is more the spiritual successor to that rather than Meteor Lake IMO. Top tier PL is 4P+8E+4LP-E +12Xe3 vs Lunar Lake 4P+4LP-E+8Xe2. We get to compare 18A to N3B. I will bet PL has higher boost clocks than LL.

 

[thestryker]

Well ,Panther Lake is going to have higher core counts than Lunar Lake and is more the spiritual successor to that rather than Meteor Lake IMO.

Based on current information PTL isn't really a LNL successor since they're all H SKUs. They seem to be positioned to replace the 6/8/2 and 4/8/2 configurations of the last couple generations of H SKUs. The most up to date SKU list I'm aware of is as follows:

P/E/LPE-Xe:
4/8/4-12
4/8/4-4
4/4/4-10
4/4/4-4
4/0/4-4
2/0/4-2

It's of course entirely possible there will be low power SKUs but they're not going to be among the initial release.

 

[Mr Majestyk]

Based on current information PTL isn't really a LNL successor since they're all H SKUs. They seem to be positioned to replace the 6/8/2 and 4/8/2 configurations of the last couple generations of H SKUs. The most up to date SKU list I'm aware of is as follows:

P/E/LPE-Xe:
4/8/4-12
4/8/4-4
4/4/4-10
4/4/4-4
4/0/4-4
2/0/4-2

It's of course entirely possible there will be low power SKUs but they're not going to be among the initial release.

With only 4P cores they sound like beefed up Lunar Lake. Sure there are big differences in memory not being soldered and Panther being more H class, but we will also have Arrow Lake refresh H, with 6/8 P cores. So while Lunar Lake is it's own one-off design, PL still seems like the spiritual successor rather than an Arrow Lake H successor, which is what Nova Lake is about.

 

[thestryker]

With only 4P cores they sound like beefed up Lunar Lake. Sure there are big differences in memory not being soldered and Panther being more H class, but we will also have Arrow Lake refresh H, with 6/8 P cores. So while Lunar Lake is it's own one-off design, PL still seems like the spiritual successor rather than an Arrow Lake H successor, which is what Nova Lake is about.

Only having 4 P-cores doesn't mean much of anything by itself since we have no clue what the performance is going to look like on them. PTL-H power figures are pretty much the same as the last two H SKU generations but with lower peak. The original leaks did include a 6 P-core SKU but that didn't last long. Once we see the performance we'll find out if it was more likely cost savings or technological.