Intel has confirmed that its upcoming Nova Lake desktop processors will be unveiled at CES 2027, aiming to recapture the high-end desktop (HEDT) market. Lip-Bu Tan, Intel's chairman, stated during a recent shareholder call that Nova Lake is tracking ahead of schedule and is expected to secure twice the design wins of its predecessor, Panther Lake, at launch. More details are anticipated at the Las Vegas show in early January.
Nova Lake will be Intel's first client product built on the advanced Intel 18A-P process node. This represents a significant upgrade, as current mobile chips like Panther Lake and Wildcat Lake use the 18A node, while existing Arrow Lake processors rely on TSMC's N3B. The 18A-P node promises improved efficiency, offering either 9% higher performance at equivalent power consumption or over 18% lower power at equivalent performance.
David Zinsner, Intel's chief financial officer, highlighted Nova Lake's strategic importance, noting that "we've had a bit of a hole in our portfolio for high-end desktop, and Nova Lake filled in that gap." This suggests a renewed focus on competing at the upper echelons of the desktop CPU market, an area Intel has not explicitly addressed with dedicated HEDT offerings since the Cascade Lake-X series in 2019.
While it remains unclear if Nova Lake will encompass a full range of HEDT chips comparable to Intel's past Core X-series, the inclusion of faster cores and a larger cache is expected. Rumors point to processors like the Core Ultra 9 4970K BFC, featuring a Big Last Level Cache (BLLC), as Intel's answer to AMD's popular 3D V-Cache technology. This strategy is crucial as AMD currently dominates the high-end gaming CPU market with its X3D chips, especially following Arrow Lake's performance that reportedly did not meet expectations.
Intel expressed confidence that Nova Lake will enable market share gains. Zinsner stated, "We do feel like we go into the year as a market share gainer with our Nova Lake portfolio." The company believes these new processors will help reverse the current trend of ceded market share to AMD. Further details will be shared at CES 2027, which runs from January 6 to January 9.