Intel Nova Lake CPU tile could be manufactured on TSMC's 2 nm node

As Intel Foundry's first external node, 18A has a lot riding on it. It is already churning out Panther Lake and Clearwater Forest chips, but if a recent report from Taiwanese outlet Economic Daily is accurate, Intel's upcoming desktop architecture still might have to rely on its main competitor.

Intel has supposedly booked some fab space on TSMC's cutting-edge 2 nm node, slated to enter mass production later this year. It will be used to manufacture CPU tiles for Intel Nova Lake desktop CPUs that will launch next year. This isn't surprising and was hinted at via an earlier report that showed off TSMC's potential 2 nm clients.

Understandably, neither Intel nor TSMC have publicly commented on the situation. However, Intel's decision to stick with TSMC for CPU tiles casts doubts on its own 18A-P node. Or it could be something as simple as a capacity issue. Nevertheless, it puts Nova Lake on the same platform as AMD's Zen 6, Apple's M6 and Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite 2.

Given Nova Lake is nowhere close to launch, little is known about its specs. An earlier rumour from a well-known leaker said its top-spec SKU might come with up to 54 CPU cores with 16 P-cores, 32 E-cores and 4 LPE-cores. Additionally, they will use Coyote Cove P-cores and Arctic Wolf E/LPE-cores.