There have been several rumors regarding the status of Intel's 14th Gen Meteor Lake CPUs and the TSMC 3nm process node that will power its tGPU and while Intel is denying all such rumors, it looks like leaker, OneRaichu, who has an absolutely flawless track record when it comes to Intel leaks, is stating that 3nm GPUs may not be used at least till 15th Gen Arrow Lake CPUs that launch in 2024.
Intel Rumored To Drop 3nm tGPU For Meteor Lake CPUs, Instead Going To Feature In 15th Gen Arrow Lake Chips
The rumors started pouring out when DigiTimes and TrendForce reported that something was very wrong with Intel's Meteor Lake CPUs, leading to a potential delay. The reports cited the tGPU, which is going to utilize the TSMC 3nm process node, to be the main culprit behind the production woes.
https://twitter.com/OneRaichu/status/1555426912260202497
Intel obviously denied those rumors and followed us with CEO, Pat Gelsinger's, quote which states that the production of Meteor Lake CPUs which utilize the "Intel 4" process node is showing good health in their own and the customer's fabs. Now Meteor Lake CPUs aren't entirely based on Intel's own 4 process nodes. They utilize a mix of "Intel 4" and "TSMC 3nm" IPs with the Compute Tiles being fabricated by Intel itself and the tGPU tile being outsourced to TSMC for fabrication. Intel's tGPU which stands for Tiled-GPU is expected to offer up to 192 Execution Units, a 2x increase over current iGPUs from Chipzilla but that may not be the case.
As OneRaichi's latest tweet states, the 14th Gen Meteor Lake CPUs may not have any TSMC N3 (3nm) part. If that's the case, then we can say goodbye to a 3nm tGPU and another rumor started by @davidbepo reveals that the Meteor Lake Mobile SOC may be cut down significantly, going from 192 EUs on TSMC's 3nm process node to just 128 EUs on TSMC's 5nm process node. This will be a major change if the rumors are true.
It seems this is true, mobile went 192 N3 to 128 N5 class
DT stays 64 on SoC chip https://t.co/aOmSSi8e0D— davidbepo archive (flying on bluer skies) (@davidbepo) August 5, 2022
As for what happens to Intel's N3 deal with TSMC, it is said that Pat may have renegotiated the deal with TSMC and Intel may now utilize tGPUs based on the said process node on its next-gen chips such as 15th Gen Arrow Lake and 16th Gen Lunar Lake.
Considering that 16th Gen Arrow Lake CPU lineup is expected to launch in 2024, we might have to wait more than a year to see TSMC's 3nm in action on Intel CPUs. This would also mean that we might get a newer GPU architecture, most likely Battlemage (Xe2) or Celestial (Xe3) by the time the launch of the new chips. But this is just a rumor for now however, considering OneRaichu's history of Intel leaks, this may as well be very legit.
Intel Mobility CPU Lineup:
| CPU Family | Panther Lake | Lunar Lake | Arrow Lake | Meteor Lake | Raptor Lake | Alder Lake |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Process Node (CPU Tile) | Intel 18A | TSMC N3B | TSMC N3B | Intel 4 | Intel 7 | Intel 7 |
| Process Node (GPU Tile) | TSMC N3E / Intel 3 | TSMC N3B | TSMC 5nm | TSMC 5nm | Intel 7 | Intel 7 |
| CPU Architecture | Hybrid | Hybrid (Dual-Core) | Hybrid (Triple-Core) | Hybrid (Triple-Core) | Hybrid (Dual-Core) | Hybrid (Dual-Core) |
| P-Core Architecture | Cougar Cove | Lion Cove | Lion Cove | Redwood Cove | Raptor Cove | Golden Cove |
| E-Core Architecture | Darkmont | N/A | Skymont | Crestmont | Gracemont | Gracemont |
| LP E-Core Architecture (SOC) | Darkmont | Skymont | Crestmont | Crestmont | N/A | N/A |
| Top Configuration (Compute Tile) | 4+8 (H-Series) | 4+4 (MX Series) | 6+8 (H-Series) 2+8 (U-Series) | 6+8 (H-Series) 2+8 (U-Series) | 6+8 (H-Series) 8+16 (HX-Series) | 6+8 (H-Series) 8+8 (HX-Series) |
| Max Cores / Threads | 16/16 | 8/8 | 14/14 | 14/20 | 14/20 | 14/20 |
| AI NPU | NPU5 (50 TOPS) | NPU4 (48 TOPS) | NPU3.5 (13 TOPS) | NPU3 (11 TOPS) | NPU2 (7 TOPS) | NPU2 (7 TOPS) |
| Planned Lineup | Core Ultra 300 | Core Ultra 200V | Core Ultra 200 | Core Ultra 100 | 14th/13th Gen | 12th Gen |
| GPU Architecture | Xe3-LPG (Battlemage) | Xe2-LPG (Battlemage) | Xe-LPG+ (Alchemist) | Xe-LPG (Alchemist) | Iris Xe (Gen 12) | Iris Xe (Gen 12) |
| Xe Cores (Max) | 12 Xe3 Cores | 8 Xe2 Cores | 8 Xe Cores | 8 Xe Cores | 96 EUs (768 Cores) | 96 EUs (768 Cores) |
| Memory Support | LPDDR5X-9600 | LPDDR5X-8533 | DDR5-5600 LPDDR5-7500 LPDDR5X-8533 | DDR5-5600 LPDDR5-7400 LPDDR5X - 7400+ | DDR5-5200 LPDDR5-5200 LPDDR5-6400 | DDR5-4800 LPDDR5-5200 LPDDR5X-4267 |
| Memory Capacity (Max) | 128 GB | 32 GB | 128 GB | 96 GB | 64 GB | 64 GB |
| Thunderbolt Support | TB5 | TB5 | TB5 | TB4 | TB4 | TB4 |
| WiFi Capability | WiFi 7 | WiFi 7 | WiFi 7 | WiFi 6E | WiFi 6E | WiFi 6E |
| TDP | 17-45W | 17-30W | TBD | 7W-45W | 15-55W | 15-55W |
| Launch | 2H 2025 | 2H 2024 | 2H 2024 | 2H 2023 | 1H 2023 | 1H 2022 |
About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.
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