If you’re interested in what Intel has in store for 2024, you’ve probably heard about Intel Lunar Lake.
But, what is Lunar Lake and what do we know about Intel’s AI-enhanced mobile processor so far?
What is Intel Lunar Lake?
Lunar Lake is the codename for Intel’s next generation of laptop processors. These are mobile processors designed to offer an enhanced AI experience, exceptional core performance, major improvements in graphics, and breakthrough power efficiency.
The Lunar Lake processors consist of two tiles – a Compute Tile and a Platform Controller Tile (PCT).
The Compute Tile is where you’ll find the latest generation of Efficient-cores (E-cores) and Performance-cores (P-cores) for improved power efficiency, along with the central processing unit (CPU), image processing unit (IPU), and neural processing unit (NPU).
All three units are equipped with AI acceleration capabilities. However, NPU is particularly crucial as this is the part that allows AI and machine learning tasks to be handled on-device. It’s also what makes Lunar Lake so powerful, with the NPU’s 48 tera-operations per second (TOPS) tripling the AI performance of its predecessors.
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The Xe2 GPU, meanwhile, offers 50% more gaming performance and is capable of delivering more than 60 TOPS for 3.5x the AI throughput compared to Intel’s previous generation of mobile processors.
Security and connectivity are integrated in the PCT, with Lunar Lake’s upgraded connectivity suite including Wi-Fi 7.0, Bluetooth 5.4, PCIe Gen5, PCIe Gen4, and Thunderbolt 4 ports.
Finally, memory on package enables the processor to access data quickly and decreases both the latency and power consumption.
According to Intel, Lunar Lake’s improved efficiency should translate to a 60% improvement in battery life in real-life use cases.
“The launch of Lunar Lake will bring meaningful fundamental improvements across security, battery life, and more thanks to our deep co-engineering partnership with Intel”, said Pavan Davuluri, corporate VP of Windows and Devices at Microsoft.
“We are excited to see Lunar Lake come to market with a 40+ TOPS NPU which will deliver Microsoft’s Copilot+ experiences at scale when available”.
Intel says that its Lunar Lake processors will power more than 80 new laptop designs across more than 20 manufacturers starting in Q3 2024. The company plans to ship more than 40 million AI PC processors this year.
