Intel stated during its recent earnings call that all products and programs are on or ahead of schedule with Arrow Lake already running in Fabs.
Intel's Next-Gen Chips & Processes Are On Track, Company Confirms Arrow Lake CPUs Already Running In Fabs
Intel's Q2 2023 earnings saw the company return to profitability after several quarters in the red. The good news came thanks to major restructuring and the PC market stabilizing once again. The company stated that the client business which covers the general PC consumers did better than expected and the company was once again able to gain market share in Q2 while retaining CPU inventories to a healthy level.
I am pleased to report that all our programs are on or ahead of schedule. We remain on track for 5 nodes in 5 years and to regain transistor performance and power performance leadership by 2025.
Intel 7 is done and with the second-half launch of Meteor Lake, Intel 4, our first EUV node is essentially complete with production ramping. For the remaining three nodes, I would highlight Intel 3 met defect density and performance milestones in Q2, we reached PVK 1.1 and is on track for overall yields and performance targets. We will launch Sierra Forest in first half of 24 with Granite Rapids following shortly thereafter, our lead vehicles for Intel 3.
On Intel 20A, our first process node using both RibbonFET and PowerVia, Arrow Lake, our volume client product is currently running its first stepping in the fab. In Q2, we announced that we will be the first to implement back-side power delivery silicon 2+ years ahead of the industry enabling power savings, area efficiency, and performance gains for increased compute demand, ideal for use cases like AI, CPUs, and graphics. In addition, backside power improves ease of design, a major benefit not only for our own product but more so even for our foundry customers.
On Intel 18A, we continue to run internal and external chips and we remain on track to be manufacturing-ready by the second half of 2024.
Pat Gelsinger (Intel CEO during Q2 23 Earnings Call)
During the call, Intel's CEO, Pat Gelsinger, confirmed that all of their programs were either on or ahead of schedule which means that we can see the upcoming Client and Data Center chips on time. It was pointed out that Meteor Lake production is ramping up & is on schedule for its launch in the coming months.
The second "Volume" client product talked about is Arrow Lake which is the generation that follows Meteor Lake and will be produced in 2024 alongside Lunar Lake CPUs. Intel already has its first stepping of Arrow Lake chips running in fabs. These chips are due for launch sometime between 2024-2025 and will be making use of several key innovations such as Foveros, 3D chiplets, Power Via, & Backside power routing for higher efficiency inside a completely disaggregated chip design.
Other products mentioned were Intel 18A which is also on track for manufacturing by 2H 2024. The company is already conducting internal and external chip verifications and tests.
Moving to products, our client business exceeded expectations and gained share yet again in Q2 as the group executed well. Seeing a modest recovery in the consumer and education segment as well as strengths in premium segment where we have leadership performance.
We have worked closely with our customers to manage client CPU inventory down to healthy levels as we continue to execute against our strategic initiatives we see a sustained recovery in the second half of the year as inventory has normalized. Importantly, we see the AI PC as a critical inflection point for the PC market over the coming years that will rival the importance of Centrino and WiFi from early 2000s.
We remain positive for the long-term outlook for PCs as household density is stable to increasing across multiple regions and usage remains above pre-pandemic levels.
Pat Gelsinger (Intel CEO during Q2 23 Earnings Call)
Building on strong demand of our 13th Gen Intel processor family, Meteor Lake is ramping well and in anticipation of a Q3 PRQ, we will maintain and extend our processor leadership and share gains over the last four quarters. Meteor Lake will be a key inflection point in our client process roadmap as the first platform built on Intel 4, first EUV node, and the first planned chiplet design enabled by Foveros advanced packing technology, delivering improved power efficiency and graphics performance. Meteor Lake will also feature a dedicated AI engine "Intel AI Boost".
With AI Boost, our integrated neural VPU enabling dedicated low-power compute for AI workloads, we will bring AI use cases to life for key experiences people will want and need for hybrid work, productivity, security, and creator capability.
Pat Gelsinger (Intel CEO during Q2 23 Earnings Call)
For the Data Center side of things, Intel once again reaffirmed the launch of three key products, 5th Gen Emerald Rapids in Q4 2023, Sierra Forest with Intel 3 in 1H 2024 & Granite Rapids shortly after that. Both next-gen "2024" Xeon CPUs with P-Cores & E-Cores are currently going through volume validation across multiple clients who have powered on the first chips on their boards. The silicon is also hitting its projected power and performance targets. Intel also mentioned that its GPU line for HPC, codenamed Falcon Shores, will be targeting the AI space alongside Gaudi 3 by 2024-2025 and the follow-up, Falcon Shores 2, is also anticipated for launch in 2026.
Our data center CPU roadmap continues to get stronger and remains on or incrementally ahead of schedule with Emerald Rapids, our 5th Gen Xeon Scalable, set to launch in Q4 2023, Sierra Forest, our lead vehicle for Intel 3 will launch in first half of 24, Granite Rapids will follow shortly thereafter.
For both Sierra Forest and Granite Rapids, volume validation with customers is progressing ahead of schedule. Multiple Sierra Forest customers have powered on their boards and silicon is hitting all performance and power targets. Clearwater Forest, the follow-on to Sierra Forest, will come to market in 2025 and be manufactured on Intel 18A.
Pat Gelsinger (Intel CEO during Q2 23 Earnings Call)
Most of this is pretty much a recap of what the company has already stated before but its good to hear that all products are still on track and no major changes have been made to the schedule. It's still important for the company to actually launch these chips and we will see if they can deliver on that.
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