Intel's "Nova Lake" Processors Reportedly Slated for TSMC's 2nm Node

[Nomad76]

TSMC is pushing forward its plans to make 2 nm process chips in large quantities in the second half of the year, with major customer developments coming to light. After AMD placed its order, reports suggest Intel has also become one of TSMC's first 2 nm customers aiming to use this cutting-edge technology for its next-gen desktop processors. Intel, already a big TSMC customer for advanced processes sent out key compute tiles for its Core Ultra processors to TSMC using different processes like N3B, N5P, and N6. To be exact, these were Intel Core Ultra 200V "Lunar Lake" series laptop processors and Core Ultra 200S "Arrow Lake" series. While both companies didn't comment on the latest news, industry talk hints that they're cooperating on Intel's upcoming Nova Lake desktop processor set to launch next year (rumors suggest that it could be the Compute Tile). With the codename "NVL-S" Nova Lake combines two groups of eight high-performance "Coyote Cove" P-cores with 16 "Arctic Wolf" E-cores. It also includes four ultra-low-power LPE cores in a separate SoC tile. It is expected that Nova Lake-S will use LGA 1954, which has 1,954 active lands and might have more than 2,000 total pads when you count debug pins.

TSMC's work on 2 nm technology is moving forward as expected. The company uses first-generation nanochip transistor technology to boost performance and reduce power consumption across process nodes with big clients finishing designing silicon IPs and starting validation steps. AMD shared that its next EPYC "Venice" chip will be the first high-performance computing processor to use TSMC's 2 nm process. AMD validated it at TSMC's Arizona plant and is on track to launch it in 2026. Also, word has it that Apple's future iPhone 18 lineup will have its A20 chip made with the same TSMC 2 nm process.



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[Six_Times]

I've been waiting for Nova lake series for so long, my hair has turned gray.

 

[phanbuey]

The fact that it's not on 18A is a horrible sign.

 

[Squared]

Intel's N5P tiles are graphics tiles in Meteor Lake and Arrow Lake. That is another option N2 could be used for in Nova Lake.

 

[Asni]

March 2025:

Intel 18A running at 20-30% yields, says top analyst​

Intel’s 18A process js yielding at 20-30% according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, and will not be able to reach commercial yield levels in time to get the first processor it was intended to run -Panther Lake – out and into notebooks in time for the Christmas market.

Back in December there were reports that TSMC was getting 60% yields on its 2nm process which is TSMC’s equivalent to Intel 18A.

 

[dyonoctis]

The fact that it's not on 18A is a horrible sign.

We can pretty much make peace with the fact that Xeon are the only cpus that will be fabbed internaly from now on I guess.

 

[Arsouf]

8 days ago:

Intel's 18A Node Outperforms TSMC N2 and Samsung SF2 in 2 nm Performance Class​

 

[bgx]

sounds weird.

1) Nova Lake is where 18A would make a difference with N2. Clearly, the clock speed of arrow lake is limited by N3, and N2 should be similar. We all know intel process is tuned to high speed.

2) it would have made more sense to make panther lake on N2, as clock speed is not the most important for mobile (but power consumption is).

3) anyway, we will know soon, as panther lake is 6 months away. They said it will be made on 18A. let see. If it is, it would be weird that nova lake use TSMC.

4) last, the yield claims by some south korean sources.... well we can be a bit skeptical (hello Samsung).
Also, yield without mentioning the size of the chip is meaningless: 20% of yield on full reticle die is ok. 20% yield on a small 100mm^2 die would be awful. Without mentioning that, the yield number is meaningless.

 

[kondamin]

sounds weird.

1) Nova Lake is where 18A would make a difference with N2. Clearly, the clock speed of arrow lake is limited by N3, and N2 should be similar. We all know intel process is tuned to high speed.

2) it would have made more sense to make panther lake on N2, as clock speed is not the most important for mobile (but power consumption is).

3) anyway, we will know soon, as panther lake is 6 months away. They said it will be made on 18A. let see. If it is, it would be weird that nova lake use TSMC.

4) last, the yield claims by some south korean sources.... well we can be a bit skeptical (hello Samsung).
Also, yield without mentioning the size of the chip is meaningless: 20% of yield on full reticle die is ok. 20% yield on a small 100mm^2 die would be awful. Without mentioning that, the yield number is meaningless.

i Read somewhere that the yield is calculated on some benchmark with a set size.
so yeah intel being 20% where tsmc is at 60% if it’s the same bench that would be quite horrible for intel

 

[Denver]

Talk about eating your own words... what the hell has been wrong with intel? A curse? You can't hope to be a serious Fab player while using your rival's process for your best products! It only proves they are falling behind and can't compete.

 

[ThomasK]

Seems like 18A isn't that competitive with TSMC N2 after all.

What is the new CEO waiting for to spin off the fabs?

 

[bgx]

Looks like you are making a lot out of an unsourced rumor, which does not even look to make much sense.

Let s wait and see! Again, panther lake is not that far.

 

[Squared]

2) it would have made more sense to make panther lake on N2, as clock speed is not the most important for mobile (but power consumption is).

3) anyway, we will know soon, as panther lake is 6 months away. They said it will be made on 18A. let see. If it is, it would be weird that nova lake use TSMC.

TSMC N2 products won't reach the market until 2026, so it's not an option for Panther Lake. Also Nova Lake is probably not desktop-only; it will probably be for mobile as well and just as TSMC N3B makes sense for Arrow Lake on mobile, TSMC N2 could make sense for the compute tile for Nova Lake on mobile. It'd also make sense for Nova Lake's iGPU tile.

i Read somewhere that the yield is calculated on some benchmark with a set size.
so yeah intel being 20% where tsmc is at 60% if it’s the same bench that would be quite horrible for intel

If TSMC was yielding 60% today then AMD's first N2 chip ("the first high-performance compute N2 chip from TSMC") wouldn't have just gotten to AMD's labs for the first time. It'd be in production to go to market.


Condemning Intel over a rumor that isn't even specific about which tile is a little extreme. There were also rumors that Celestial will come to market this year and be built on 18A. Does that mean Intel's competitors all need to sign on to use 18A? And what about the rumors that Nova Lake uses Intel 14A?

Intel 4 came to market in December 2023. Despite Intel's hopes for a faster timeline, 18A is scheduled to come to market almost exactly 2 years later. That's a reasonable amount of time between the release of major nodes.

 

[Wirko]

By some accounts, a product named "Nova" is destined to fail in some parts of the world.
(And by some irony, that was a Chevrolet based on a Toyota and employing a Toyota engine in later versions.)

 

[JediMindTricks]

Intel also has 18A+ coming after 18A, maybe Nova Lake will use that for some of the tiles?