Intel teases next-gen ‘Panther Lake’ chips ahead of 2026 launch

Intel committed to delivering its next-generation “Panther Lake” processor to PC makers early in 2026, maintaining the cadence of previous launches.

Intel executives said at Computex 2025 that it will begin manufacturing Panther Lake during the second half of 2025. However, according to PCWorld’s Adam Patrick Murray, Intel executives said that Panther Lake will not be a socketed desktop part.

Intel showed off Panther Lake running in what it calls validation platforms or prototype PCs, as well as examples of the chip itself. As for Intel’s next-generation “Nova Lake,” processor, due in 2026, we asked about that chip, as well.

“You’ll see Nova Lake on time,” said Robert Hallock, Intel’s senior director of technical marketing.

Intel Panther Lake demo systems — Intel validation systems from partners, running Intel’s Panther Lake.

Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry

Intel began talking about Panther Lake over a year ago, when Intel said that it was moving into the fab. Panther Lake prototypes appeared in October, and since then surfaced in every major Intel presentation including the debut of Intel’s newest chief executive, Lip-Bu Tan.

At Computex, Intel demonstrated these early versions of Panther Lake running on Da Vinci Resolve, a video editing application, as well as an LLM using a front end modeled after Microsoft’s AI assistant, Clippy. Topaz AI, an image upscaling application, was also shown off running on the early Panther Lake hardware.

Intel hasn’t released the Panther Lake specifications yet. Intel has also confirmed that it will be using a new, integrated GPU, though not which one.

It sounds like Nova Lake will be Intel’s next desktop part, while Panther Lake will remain a mobile processor.