Intel's next-generation Lunar Lake "Core Ultra" CPUs for low-power platforms will feature up to 64 EUs based on the Battlemage Xe2-LPG iGPU cores.
Intel Lunar Lake Expected To Adopt Next-Gen Arc Battlemage Cores For iGPU, Comes With Brand New VPU
We have already known that Intel's Alchemist Xe-LPG GPU cores will be utilized by Meteor Lake and Arrow Lake CPUs while the Lunar Lake CPUs will be the first to adopt the new Battlemage Xe2-LPG cores. Now based on new information by Bionic_Squash, we have some more information on these upcoming Lunar Lake CPUs which are expected to go into full production in 2024 alongside Arrow Lake.
LNL IGPU gets 64 Xe² EU's
— Bionic_Squash (@SquashBionic) July 31, 2023
According to the information, the Intel Lunar Lake CPUs will feature an iGPU core fitted with 64 Xe2 EUs within 8 Xe Cores. That means we are looking at a total of 1024 ALUs. This is a lower EU count vs the existing 96 EU Iris Xe GPUs found on Raptor Lake chips and also lower than the 128 EUs which will be featured on Meteor Lake and 192 EUs that will be featured on Arrow Lake's iGPUs. But the thing is that, unlike those parts, Lunar Lake is specifically designed to be a low-power mobile entry & as such, it isn't designed to offer a whole lot of Xe cores or EUs.
In fact, the Battlemage GPU architecture featured on Intel's Lunar Lake CPUs should provide a good boost in performance over Alchemist thanks to its wider SIMD units so the core count differences are going to be compensated by architectural uplifts. Intel's Battlemage is the 2nd generation Arc architecture from Intel & will be delivering a major boost over Alchemist when it launches in 2024. Lunar Lake CPUs are expected in 2025 so we will have very tuned performance around the new Battlemage GPU architecture after the release on desktop and high-end laptop platforms in 2024.
In addition to the Battlemage GPU architecture, the Intel Lunar Lake CPUs are also going to host a next-gen VPU (Versatile Processing Unit). This dedicated AI engine already has drivers on the way for Linux as reported by Phoronix.
The initial code patches for Intel's "VPU IP 4" which is for Lunar Lake chips have already been sent out and will offer a major boost over the "VPU IP 3" which will be adopted by the upcoming Meter Lake chips and its successor, Arrow Lake. It is stated that the new IP can deliver more than 2x the INT8 TOPS which will lead to significantly better ML performance as that's going to be a major talking point of Intel's next-gen chips as it tries to level the playing field with AMD's Ryzen AI engine.
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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