Intel Nova Lake-AX specs emerge alongside murmurs of cancellation

A recent leak discussed Intel's Strix Halo competitor, Nova Lake-AX. Well-known X leaker @OneRaichu has now shed some light on its specs. Unfortunately, they add that the chip might not launch for unknown reasons. Circling back to Nova Lake-AX, it's tipped to arrive with 8 P-cores, 16 E-cores and 4 LP E-cores for a total of 28 CPU cores and 28 threads. It will be accompanied by LPDDR5X-9600/10667 RAM on a 256-bit bus and an Xe3P (Celestial) iGPU with 384 EUs.

Whether or not this is the top-spec SKU remains unknown. On paper, the above Nova Lake-AX chip has the necessary firepower to take on Strix Halo's flagship Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chip, thanks to its increased core count, faster RAM and theoretically more powerful GPU. Nevertheless, even if it does launch, it is unlikely to happen before 2026 once the Nova Lake platform becomes mainstream.

With Nvidia's N1x delayed to next year, Intel has some time to bring Nova Lake-AX back from development limbo. HXL, another leaker with a decent track record, has some more bad news. AMD's Strix Halo successor, Medusa Halo, may also have been mothballed. If true, Nova Lake-AX will effectively run uncontested and establish a foothold in a market primarily dominated by Strix Halo and Apple.