Intel is gearing up to ship its next Core Ultra Series 4, dubbed Nova Lake, in late 2026. The company revealed that the chip will use a tile‑based, disaggregated architecture similar to Arrow Lake, with the CPU cores housed in a dedicated Compute tile built on TSMC’s N2 2 nm nanosheet process.

Intel plans two Compute tile variants for desktops: a mainstream 8P+16E core layout with a standard L3 cache, and a premium 8P+16E model featuring a bLLC that could triple the cache size. The standard tile measures roughly 110 mm², while the bLLC version expands to over 150 mm².

Beyond the Compute tile, the Nova Lake package will host a SoC tile that runs low‑power E‑cores, DDR5 controllers, a 74 TOPS NPU, and a PCI‑Express Gen 5 root complex. A separate Graphics tile, likely on a more advanced node than the SoC, will deliver integrated GPU performance.

Intel’s tile strategy lets it allocate the most advanced process to performance‑critical cores while keeping power‑efficient units on older nodes, mirroring AMD’s 3D V‑Cache approach. With the 2026 launch, consumers will see a clear split between mainstream and premium desktop CPUs, each tailored for different workloads.