85%
Highly Likely
Intel's next-generation Razor Lake-AX chips will compete directly against AMD's Medusa Halo while featuring on-package memory.
Intel Is Bringing Back On-Package Memory With Its Next-Gen Razor Lake-AX Chips That Fight Against AMD's Medusa Halo
On-Package Memory was last used by Intel for its Lunar Lake SoCs. These SoCs were aimed at low-power mobile platforms, and while the chips themselves offered solid performance in a 30W budget, Intel's next on-package memory solution will be a big one.
As per Haze2K1 on X, Intel Razor Lake-AX SoCs will feature on-package memory. This is a big deal as moving the DRAM closer to the chip itself has several advantages, leading to efficient & compact PCs. The type of memory isn't disclosed, but we are likely looking at either LPDDR5X or the next-gen LPDDR6 standards.
Given the launch timeline of Razor Lake-AX, which is expected sometime around 2028, LPDDR6 sounds more likely as the extra bandwidth will be beneficial for the large iGPU that this chip will pack. Another likelihood is that Intel may leverage its own ZAM "Z-Angle Memory" for Razor Lake-AX, which will also help demonstrate the potential of the new memory standard to customers.
As for what we know about Intel's Razor Lake-AX, the AX family will be a unique segment, aiming at high-end laptops and mobile platforms. Razor Lake, in general, will be an optimized variant of Nova Lake, with Griffin Cove P-Cores and Golden Eagle E-Cores. Since Nova Lake is going to pack Xe3 and Xe3P iGPUs, Razor Lake can go with either a refined version of Xe3P "Celestial" or the next-gen Xe4 "Druid" uArch.
Razor Lake will be launching on both desktop and mobile platforms by 2027, enabling socket & pin compatibility with Nova Lake platforms, so the transition between the standard S, H, and HX families will be seamless. But Razor Lake-AX, which takes things a notch higher, is going to require different designs as its full-on SoC design with a mix of high CPU core count and high GPU core count, embedded cache, and various controllers.
Razer Lake-AX, which will be the competitor to AMD's Halo-class APUs. AMD currently has Strix Halo positioned as the upper echelon of its AI PC SoCs, with Gorgon Halo refresh expected this year. The company will release Medusa Halo sometime in 2027-2028. The launch of Razer Lake-AX might coincide with Intel's custom Serpent Lake SoCs, which will fuse its x86 core architectures with NVIDIA's RTX GPUs.
Intel Mainstream CPU Generations Comparison:
| Intel CPU Family | Processor Process | Processor Architecture | Graphics Architecture | Processors Cores/Threads (Max) | Platform | Memory Support | PCIe Support | Launch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alder Lake (12th Gen) | Intel 7 | Golden Cove (P-Core) Gracemont (E-Core) | HD 700 Series | 16/24 | LGA 1700/1800 | DDR5 / DDR4 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2021 |
| Raptor Lake (13th Gen) | Intel 7 | Raptor Cove (P-Core) Gracemont (E-Core) | HD 700 Series | 24/32 | LGA 1700/1800 | DDR5 / DDR4 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2022 |
| Raptor Lake Refresh (14th Gen) | Intel 7 | Raptor Cove (P-Core) Gracemont (E-Core) | HD 700 Series | 24/32 | LGA 1700/1800 | DDR5 / DDR4 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2023 |
| Meteor Lake | Intel 4 | Redwood Cove (P-Core) Crestmont (E-Core) | Xe1 (Alchemist) | 22/28 | LGA 1851 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2024 |
| Arrow Lake | TSMC N3B | Lion Cove (P-Core) Skymont (E-Core) | Xe1 (Alchemist) | 24/24 | LGA 1851 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2024 |
| Arrow Lake Refresh | TSMC N3B | Lion Cove (P-Core) Skymont (E-Core) | Xe1 (Alchemist) | 24/24 | LGA 1851 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2026 |
| Lunar Lake | TSMC N3B | Lion Cove (P-Core) Skymont (E-Core) | Xe2 (Battlemage) | 8/8 | Mobile Only | LPDDR5X | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2024 |
| Panther Lake | Intel 18A | Cougar Cove (P-Core) Darkmont (E-Core) | Xe3 (Battlemage) | 16/16 | Mobile Only | LPDDR5/LPDDR5X | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2025 |
| Nova Lake | Intel 18A | Coyote Cove (P-Core) Arctic Wolf (E-Core) | Xe3 (Battlemage) Xe3P (Celestial) | 52/52 | LGA 1954 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2026 |
| Razor Lake | Intel 18A? | Griffin Cove (P-Core) Golden Eagle (E-Core) | TBA | TBA | LGA 1954 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0? | 2027 |
| Titan Lake | TBA | Copper Shark (Unified) Golden Eagle (E-Core) | TBA | TBA | Mobile Only | LPDDR6? | PCIe Gen 5.0? | 2028 |
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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