Intel's next-gen NPUs have been listed in the latest drivers with NPU5 targeting Panther Lake & NPU6 being the AI engine for Nova Lake CPUs.
Intel Plans On Rapidly Innovating The AI NPU Segment By Iterating Generationally With Each CPU Architecture: NPU5 For Panther Lake & NPU6 For Nova Lake
Intel's NPUs are targeted towards making AI possible on local machines, and with this, Team Blue has managed to significantly upscale AI computing performance on its CPU architectures, such as Meteor Lake and Lunar Lake, delivering up to 48 TOPs of AI performance.
Now, the firm is planning to ramp up its enhancements in its NPU lineup, and plans to introduce up to "6th-generation" NPUs, anticipated with the company's upcoming Nova Lake CPU family, as revealed in device IDs surfaced on Linux GitHub repositories for NPU drivers.
Intel の NPUに、60XX が登場！
- Metero Lake (2023) : 37XX
- Lunar Lake (2024) : 40XX
- Arrow Lake (2024) : 37XX
- Panther Lake (2025) : 50XX
- Nova Lake (2025) : 50XX or 60XXhttps://t.co/4Es8AEhVoo pic.twitter.com/vehXCVDnpI— Vengineerの妄想 (@Vengineer) October 12, 2024
Although Nova Lake CPUs aren't referenced, the NPU6 should succeed the NPU5 which is going to be featured on Panther Lake CPUs. So Nova Lake makes sense for the NPU6 add-on. Intel's CEO has already stated that Panther Lake CPUs will offer double the AI throughput and performance over Lunar Lake so we are looking at around 100 TOPs of dedicated NPU compute which should match entry-level GPUs from 2025. Following are the compute capabilities of existing and those expected of next-gen NPUs:
- NPU1 - 0.5 TOPs
- NPU2 - 7.0 TOPs
- NPU3 - 11.5 TOPs
- NPU4 - 48.0 TOPs
- NPU5 - ~100 TOPs?
- NPU6 - >100 TOPs
While we are unaware of how the generational changes in neural engines would work out, we will likely see a steady rise in AI computing power, and given that we are currently at 48 TOPS with Lunar Lake, this figure can tremendously scale up moving in the future, likely creating further opportunities for the "AI PC" segment.
Apart from Nova Lake, we will also see 5th Gen NPUs debut with Team Blue's Panther Lake CPUs as well, and we have already covered this development here, and the new device IDs indeed reiterate this fact. Overall, Intel does seem to move steadily with the enablement of its NPUs, bringing in generational upgrades that will likely set the tone for the future of this segment.
About the author: Muhammad Zuhair is a hardware and technology reporter for Wccftech, specializing in the semiconductor industry and the complex interplay between technology, manufacturing, and geopolitics. His coverage focuses on the corporate strategies and technological roadmaps of industry giants like TSMC, NVIDIA, Samsung, and Intel. Zuhair's expertise lies in deconstructing complex topics such as fabrication nodes (e.g., 2nm process), the economic impact of policies like the CHIPS Act, and the strategic development of AI infrastructure from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel.
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