Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan confirmed during the Q3 2026 earnings call that the upcoming flagship client CPU codenamed "Nova Lake" will be produced by Intel Foundry using its 18A-P node. This confirms a change from earlier plans to outsource the main compute tile production to TSMC's 2 nm N2 node.
Originally, Intel intended to dual-source production, with TSMC handling roughly 60-70% and Intel Foundry making the remainder on 18A. Later supply chain reports suggested Intel would bring most compute tile production in-house, and the CEO has now verified that "Nova Lake" is the first Intel 18A-P client product, tracking ahead of schedule.
Tan said design wins are expected to be twice those of "Panther Lake" at launch, with more details coming at CES in January. Intel plans SKUs with one or two compute dies, featuring up to 8 "Coyote Cove" P-Cores and 16 "Arctic Wolf" E-Cores, plus 4 LPE-Cores on the I/O die. A single compute die supports up to 28 cores, while two compute dies enable a 52-core CPU SKU.
Rumors indicate the single compute die version will arrive first, followed by dual compute die variants. Intel will share additional details at CES in January.
Source: TechPowerUp News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing