Intel’s 10nm Cannonlake processors due in mid-2016 – leaked roadmap

Intel Corp. will speed up development and launch of its future-generation code-named “Cannonlake” processors, if an alleged slide from the company’s roadmap is genuine. The first chips to be made using 10nm process technology may hit the market as early as in the middle of next year, but they will not be aimed at all market segments.

The world’s largest chipmaker plans to introduce its first Core M and Core i-series “Cannon Lake” processors in the second or the third quarter of 2016, according to a slide from Intel’s PC Client Platform Roadmap published by Hardware.fi web-site. The initial family of “Cannon Lake” processors will be designed for high-performance tablets as well as ultra-thin notebooks, they will feature 6W – 25W thermal design power and will unlikely have more than two x86 general-purpose cores.

If the slide from the roadmap is genuine, then Intel will offer new “Cannon Lake” processors only for mobile PCs next year. The chipmaker is expected to continue offering “Skylake” microprocessors for desktops and high-performance notebooks in 2016.

Intel “Cannonlake” central processing units are expected to inherit micro-architecture from “Skylake” CPUs, but to add certain new instructions. The chips will be made using 10nm process technology and if Intel manages to start volume production of appropriate CPUs in mid-2016, it will be at least several quarters ahead of the industry, including other leading semiconductor companies, Samsung Electronics and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

It was originally expected that Intel would start to make “Cannonlake” processors using 10nm process only in 2017.

Intel did not comment on the news-story.

Disclaimer: KitGuru could not verify authenticity of the slide at press time. It should be noted that officially Intel used to call its 10nm chips “Cannonlake”, not “Cannon Lake”.

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KitGuru Says: If the slide is accurate, then it means that Intel has adopted a new tactics of ramping up new fabrication technologies. The company first starts to produce smaller dual-core chips using its new manufacturing processes in a bid to ensure high yields. Later on, the company begins to ramp up bigger CPUs with more cores.

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