Qualcomm and Nuvia's 12-core laptop processor to debut in 2024 with a hybrid design and dGPU support

Despite acquiring Nuvia in 2021, Qualcomm is yet to harness its chipmaking prowess in any tangible way. Initial estimates suggested that the first round of Nuvia-powered chips would surface in 2022. With less than two months to go, that is unlikely to happen. Developer Kuba Wojciechowski says one might have to wait until 2024 to see the hardware in action. One of the main reasons for its delayed launch could be Arm's ongoing lawsuit with Qualcomm.

Kuba has learned from his sources that the chip is codenamed "Hamoa". The 12-core chip will pack eight performance and four efficiency cores and draw inspiration from 2020's Nuvia Phoenix. Nuvia marketed the chip as a power-efficient version of existing x86 behemoths such as Zen 2 and Ice Lake. Apple's M1 and M2 have transformed the landscape since, but Nuvia shouldn't be too daunted by them, given that the company has some ex-Apple engineers at the helm. Hamoa will also mimic the Apple M1 in memory and cache configuration and support dGPUs. The latter should give it a massive performance boost in GPU-intensive tasks at the expense of power efficiency.

Kuba adds that Hamoa can potentially work in both desktop and laptop form factors. The former will allow users to push it to the limits and it'll be interesting to see how it fares against Zen 5, Meteor/Arrow Lake and the eventual Apple M3. Hamoa will also come as a breath of fresh air for Windows-based Arm laptops, which are currently miles behind their Apple-made counterparts.

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