Close-up die shots of Intel's Panther Lake Compute Tile show the arrangement of its Cougar Cove P-Cores & Darkmont E-Cores.
Intel Panther Lake Compute Tile Smiles For Camera In Close-Up Die Shot: Next-Gen Cougar Cove P-Cores & Darkmont E-Cores on 18A
Intel's Panther Lake "Core Ultra Series 3" CPUs are right around the corner. These chips are based on the company's latest 18A process technology, and will utilize several next-gen IPs such as updated CPU cores, GPU cores, NPU architectures, and brand new Media/Video engines.
In our deep dive last month, Intel detailed the various aspects of its Panther Lake CPUs, and now, we have our first die shot of the compute tile, which is a crucial component of the chip. The Compute Tile houses the next-gen Cougar Cove P-Cores, Darkmont E-Cores, and Darkmont LP-E cores, along with its L2 and L3 caches.
In Panther Lake, Intel has multiple layers and tiles, which include:
- Compute Tile (Intel 18A)
- Graphics Tile (Intel 3 or TSMC N3E)
- Platform Controller Tile (TSMC N6)
- Base Tile (Intel 1227.1)
- Filler Tile (N/A)
- Foveros Package
- CPU Interposer Package
The die shot specifically showcases the 18A Compute Tile, which is made by Intel itself. As per the image published by Game.Keeps.Loading (via Chips and Cheese), we can see 3 Darkmont core clusters, each with 4 cores. There are also two Cougar Cove P-Cores, with the other two sites vacant. Other parts, such as L2 and L3 cache, are also visible. The source did some digging on the exact die size of each core and provides the following figures:
- Cougar Cove P-Core: ~4.49mm2
- Darkmont Per E-Core: ~1.09mm2
- Darkmont Per Cluster: ~0.95mm2
Panther Lake vs Lunar Lake Core Die Comparison (via Game.Keeps.Loading):
| Panther Lake | Die Size | Lunar Lake | Die Size | Meteor Lake | Die Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cougar Cove P-Core | ~4.49mm2 | Lion Cove P-Core | 4.45mm2 | Redwood Cove P-Core | 5.33mm2 |
| Darkmont E-Core | ~0.95mm2 | Skymont E-Core | 1.09mm2 | Crestmont E-Core | 1.04mm2 |
| Darkmont Cluster | ~6.47mm2 | Skymont Cluster | 6.79mm2 | Crestmont Cluster | 5.90mm2 |
Based on these numbers, the Cougar Cove P-Core should be around the same size as the Lion Cove P-Core, while the Darkmont E-Core is close to 13% smaller in terms of per-core die area, and 5% smaller in terms of cluster area.
The following is what the cache configuration for the cores looks like on Panther Lake:
- Cougar Cove P-Core (Per Core): 3 MB L2 + 256Kb L1
- Cougar Cove P-Core Sub-Cache: 192KB L1D + 48KB L0D
- Darkmont E-Core (Per Cluster): 4 MB L2 + 96 Kb L1
- Darkmont E-Core Sub-Cache: 64KB L1I + 32KB L0D
This is just preliminary information, but it's nice to see a close-up die shot of the 18A Compute Tile. We had a hands-on with the chips, wafers, and several interesting products during the Tech Tour 2025, and are looking forward to the final launch at CES 2026.
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