Intel seems to be gearing up for a big shake-up in the desktop CPU world. Rumors are swirling about a new hybrid processor called Nova Lake-S. It’s expected to pack a punch with a possible 28 cores, specifically 8 performance cores, 16 efficiency cores, and 4 low-power efficiency cores.
This powerful chip recently popped up in a shipping document. It was listed as “NOVA LAKE S 28C” in a Pre-Qualification Sample (Pre-QS) stage. This means it has moved past the initial engineering phase, showing it’s more than just an idea on a whiteboard. Tom’s Hardware broke this story on Thursday the 28th, giving us a peek at Intel’s future.
Alongside this major new arrival, Intel also has plans for an Arrow Lake-S Refresh. This refresh is designed to offer small performance gains. It will do this by boosting clock speeds and making other fine-tuned adjustments. There were whispers about a more powerful NPU (neural unit) for this refresh. However, it seems that plan has been set aside. The focus now appears to be purely on increasing clock speed and ensuring stability.
A Brand New Socket
The Nova Lake-S processors will likely use a completely new socket, the LGA 1954. This will replace the current LGA 1851 socket, which is found on Arrow Lake-S and Meteor Lake-PS chips. This new chip will use a hybrid chiplet or tile design. It will feature “Coyote Cove” microarchitectures for its performance cores. The efficiency cores will use “Arctic Wolf” microarchitectures. Reports also suggest a combined manufacturing process. This involves TSMC N2 and Intel’s upcoming 18A process, a hybrid approach seen in recent leaks. Together, these changes should boost performance per clock, increase cache, and improve efficiency.
Intel Aims for the Top Spot Again
This big step is part of Intel’s bold plan to regain its standing. It faces tough competition from AMD’s Zen 5 chips. Whispers suggest Nova Lake-S will bring big improvements in both single-thread and multi-thread performance. It will also feature a huge cache increase. This strategy is similar to AMD’s bLLC, which has worked well for them.
We can expect the Nova Lake-S to launch sometime between mid and late 2026. Motherboards featuring the new 900 series chipsets might debut at Computex 2026. If these predictions come true, these new chips could help Team Blue reclaim its leadership. It could dominate the enthusiast market again, thanks to more cores, a bigger cache, and a cutting-edge manufacturing process.