As follows from the documents leaked to the press about the nearest plans of Intel in the processor market, the future of the company is far from rosy. If the documents are correct, then the increase in the number of cores in mass processors to ten will take place no earlier than 2020, 14nm processors will dominate the desktop segment until 2022, and the microprocessor giant, which has become a stumbling block, will run exclusively in the mobile segment on energy-efficient U- and Y-series processors. At the same time, trial shipments of Ice Lake may begin as early as the middle of this year, but the full distribution of mobile 10-nm chips will also have to wait - at least until mid-10.
Intel's "roadmap" with such unexpected revelations was at the disposal of journalists from the Dutch site Tweakers.net. The publication indicates that the source of the slides with plans is the presentation of one of the leading partners of the microprocessor giant, Dell. However, the relevance of the presented materials remains in question, although all past announcements are described correctly in them.
As follows from the above data, the next mainstream desktop processor update is planned only in the second quarter of 2020, when the Coffee Lake Refresh will be replaced by processors codenamed Comet Lake. At the same time, information that Comet Lake can receive modifications with an increased number of computing cores up to ten is confirmed. But at the same time, the microprocessor giant will continue to use the 14-nm process technology for the production of Comet Lake. Moreover, the generation of CPUs for the desktop segment following Comet Lake is also not planned to be transferred to a more advanced process technology and a new microarchitecture. Expected in 2021, Rocket Lake processors will continue to be manufactured using 14nm technology, again offering no more than ten cores.
From this we can conclude that desktop users will only be able to get their hands on Intel processors manufactured using more modern technical processes only in 2022. And probably, they can already be some solutions based on 7nm technology with a progressive microarchitecture of the Cove class, for example, Golden Cove or Ocean Cove. In the next two and a half years, the existing stagnation will continue. True, it is worth mentioning that in early 2021, Intel plans to update the platform by introducing support for PCI Express 4.0. At least that's the intention for entry-level Xeon E processors, which are traditionally based on the same semiconductor base as consumer Cores.
As for the mobile segment, then, surprisingly, the microprocessor giant plans to introduce 10-core 14-nm Comet Lake processors in it as well. However, it is obvious that these will be some niche solutions with a thermal package that goes beyond the 65-watt range. More suitable for thin and light systems, the Comet Lake U-series processors with a TDP of up to 28 W will receive up to six cores, and the Comet Lake Y-series with a TDP of about 5 W will have two or four cores. The arrival of the Comet Lake design in the mobile segment is expected to coincide with desktops - in the second quarter of 2020.
The widespread use of mobile processors manufactured using 10nm technology can only be expected at the beginning of 2021. It was then that Intel planned to master the release of the quad-core Tiger Lake U and Y series with four computing cores and the new Willow Cove microarchitecture. True, for insurance, Intel plans to release mobile 14-nm Tiger Lake at the same time, which betrays a certain uncertainty of the company in its own abilities.
However, at the same time, Intel must still keep its earlier promises that systems built on 10nm processors will be available on store shelves before the end of this year. The announcement of the 10-nm first-born Ice Lake with two and four cores and a fundamentally new Sunny Cove microarchitecture is scheduled for the second quarter of this year (obviously, it will take place as part of the Computex exhibition). However, at the same time, an important note was made in the documents - “limited”, which means that the supply of Ice Lake will be limited. It's hard to say what this could mean, especially if you remember that Intel has been formally supplying 10-nm processors for a whole year in a limited way - we are talking about dual-core Cannon Lake without a graphics core.
Also, the company plans to separately indicate the upcoming announcement of Lakefield processors in the second quarter of this year - multi-chip systems-on-a-chip assembled using Forveros technology with a TDP of 3-5 W, which will simultaneously contain one "large" 10-nm Sunny Cove core and four 10nm Atom-class cores. It is worth recalling that Intel designs such solutions for a specific customer, so they will not become mass either.
Thus, if the published information about Intel's plans is true, you should prepare for the fact that in the near future the company's problems that arose due to the failed transition to the 10nm process will not go anywhere. Echoes of problems will one way or another haunt the microprocessor giant until 2022, and most of all they will affect the state of affairs in the desktop segment.
Source: 3dnews.ru