Intel: Tiger Lake Client CPUs Coming Mid-Year
by Ryan Smith on April 24, 2020 10:00 AM EST
Along with detailing the nuts and the bolts of their Q1 2020 earnings, as part of Intel’s financial presentation, the company also offered a quick update on their upcoming Tiger Lake client CPUs. In short, the company is now preparing for volume production of the chips, and expects to being shipping them to OEMs mid-year.
Intel first unveiled Tiger Lake back at CES 2020 early this year, where the company briefly detailed the architecture while showing off a device using a prototype chip. Tiger Lake will be based on Intel’s latest Core CPU architecture, and will also be the first CPU from the company to integrate an iGPU based on their new Xe-LP graphics architecture. The chips will be based on a newer version of Intel’s 10nm manufacturing process than what’s used in the current ice Lake chips, which Intel is calling their 10+ process. At the time, Intel was promising that Tiger Lake devices would show up by the holidays, a similar time frame as 2019’s Ice Lake launch.
All told then, Intel’s most recent update is right in-line with their previous promises. With Tiger Lake being another mobile-first launch, OEMs need to receive chips well in advance of when consumer products will reach the store shelves, both to give OEMs the necessary time to finalize their designs, as well as to build up a suitable stockpile of devices for a proper retail launch. So, as it always needs to be said when talking about Intel’s timelines for manufacturing, while Tiger Lake chips will be shipping mid-year, we’re not currently expecting devices any sooner than what Intel has previously discussed.
Finally, if everything goes according to plan or Intel, it looks like the Tiger Lake launch should be a higher volume affair than Ice Lake’s. Cognizant of Ice Lake’s slow ramp-up and launch in 2019, Intel is telling investors that they are holding twice as many Tiger Lake CPUs in reserve as compared to Ice Lake. The company does need to master its updated 10+ process to get there, but with any luck, Intel’s 4+ years of playing with 10nm may finally pay some better dividends as they bring up their latest process.
#ontherun #TigerLake pic.twitter.com/Dhm1TwlcjV
— 𝐷𝑟. 𝐼𝑎𝑛 𝐶𝑢𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 (@IanCutress) January 8, 2020
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mode_13h - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
It's a motherboard for an ultra-book or equivalent laptop.mode_13h - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
Here's a teardown of a 2018 Macbook Air:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMVDIMmbeoA
Deicidium369 - Saturday, April 25, 2020 - link
Yeah not unlike the one for Dell 13 2-in-1s with Ice Lake. I dont think there will be much that needs to be changed to move to TGL.lmcd - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
Do we know yet if Intel's Xe-LP graphics will continue to offer GPU virtualization to consumers? It's one of the secret upsides of an Intel iGPU and I'm concerned it will disappear as Intel gets more serious about its graphics (except for professional SKUs).mode_13h - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
If you sift around through the oneAPI docs enough, you might find some answers. That's a pretty deep question, though.lmcd - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
It's currently possible to use Broadwell or newer iGPUs in a virtualized setting with QEMU without *too* much of a fight, from what I've read. I'm planning on trying this configuration with a macOS virtual machine but haven't quite gotten to it.Niche need for sure but if it ends up being supported, I'll be thrilled.
mode_13h - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
> with any luck, Intel’s 4+ years of playing with 10nm may finally pay some better dividends as they bring up their latest process.It's funny you should use that analogy. If Intel hadn't been so intent on paying out dividends (and doing buybacks), their 10 nm might've come on sooner and stronger.
slide> * Committed to maintaining the dividend
slide> * Repurchased $4.2B in shares
Well, it's good to see they've got their priorities straight. Uh...
yeeeeman - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
Yeah, they stopped pumping money into r&d and this was a bad decision.Yojimbo - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
You're being sarcastic?Yojimbo - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
Intel's R&D by year:2015 - $12.1B
2016 - $12.7B
2017 - $13.1B
2018 - $13.5B
2019 - $13.4B
They did spend a lot in buyback the last couple of years but it has nothing to do with their R&D spend. Their issues were not a result of not throwing enough money around. It was poor execution, and to fix it takes better execution and time, not just throwing around money.
As far as the buybacks and dividends, they have had huge profits. Giving back to investors is what they should be doing. They are already large with many pots on the fire. There comes a point where diversifying into more businesses will only dilute the company and won't provide the best value for shareholders. Giving returns to shareholders isn't corruption, it's sharing the profits of a successful business.