Intel Begins Commercial Shipments of 10nm Ice Lake CPUs to OEMs
by Anton Shilov on July 26, 2019 5:30 PM EST
Intel has begun shipments of its 10th generation Core "Ice Lake" processors as of the second quarter, according to the company in an earnings call this week. Made using Intel’s 10nm process technology, these laptop CPUs were qualified by OEMs earlier in 2019 and are on track to reach the market inside mobile PCs by the holiday season.
As reported, Intel began to produce Ice Lake processors in the first quarter in a bid to build up inventory to support a high-volume launch in the second half of the year. The processors passed qualification by PC makers in Q1 – Q2, and then Intel started to ship them for revenue later in the quarter, which was a little bit earlier than anticipated by various market observers. Keeping in mind the lead-time required to get assembled PCs on to store shelves, Ice Lake-powered PCs are well on track to hit the market in Q4 with some machines possibly reaching retailers earlier than that.
Bob Swan, CEO of Intel, stated the following:
- “We began shipping Ice Lake client [CPUs] in the second quarter supporting systems on the shelf for the holiday selling season.”
Intel formally introduced its laptop-focused Ice Lake-U and Ice Lake-Y CPUs, which are based on the Sunny Cove microarchitecture, in late May. Officially called ‘Intel 10th Generation Core’ processors, the family includes 11 chips (ranging from Core i3 to Core i7) featuring two or four general-purpose CPU cores as well as various GPU configurations and coming to market with 9W, 15W, and 28W TDP variants.
On the CPU side of things, Intel promises an average 18% raw clock-for-clock performance uplift compared to the Skylake core released in 2016 (which has been used with small tweaks since then) along with VNNI and Cryptographic ISA instructions. On the GPU side of matters, Ice Lake CPUs will integrate Intel’s Gen11 graphics core with up to 64 execution units, with Intel promising significant performance improvements as well. The updated iGPU will also natively support DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.0b outputs as well as HDCP 2.2 technology.
As is traditional for Intel’s lower-power mobile parts, the new Ice Lake processors will come with on-package chipsets. The new 300-series chipsets for ICL will natively support USB 3.1 Gen 2, Wi-Fi 6 MAC (RF module will be sold separately), PCIe 3.0, and other features.
Overall, Intel’s road to high-volume production of 10nm CPUs has been long and bumpy; but it looks like the company is finally turning a corner in time for their Q4 launch.
Related Reading:
- Intel Unveils 10th Gen Core Ice Lake-U & Ice Lake-Y Mobile CPUs: 10nm Sunny Cove Later This Year
- Intel Starts Qualification of Ice Lake CPUs, Raises 10nm Volume Expectation for 2019
- Intel Teases Ice Lake-U Integrated Graphics Performance
Source: Intel
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repoman27 - Saturday, July 27, 2019 - link
No, there is nothing normal about this product ramp / launch from Intel.They considered ICL “announced” and “shipping to OEMs” as of May 27, 2019 in order to book 10nm revenue and convince investors they were hitting their targets. And despite the devices “on shelves for the 2019 holiday season” messaging which implies the sales embargo being lifted as late as Q4, leaked Lenovo and Dell roadmaps showed ICL products as early as June and August respectively.
But Lenovo already shipped those products with Whiskey Lake, and Apple just refreshed the MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro with Amber Lake 2+2 (same renamed Kaby Lake as before) and off-roadmap Coffee Lake-U 4+3e CPUs. We also know that Ice Lake-U/Y will be sold alongside Whisky Lake-U, Amber Lake-Y, and Comet Lake-U/Y. It is looking increasingly like HP and Dell might be the only major OEMs to feature Ice Lake in flagship products this year. In other words, Intel was only able to supply 2 of the top 4 OEMs with sufficient volumes of chips for them to ship key products in 2019.
Intel has dilated the launch window massively here by claiming they were "shipping" during what would normally be considered the qualification sampling period. And the thing is, they probably did get the OEMs to pony up the cash already, so now the OEMs are sitting on Intel's entire output of 10nm chips, bought and paid for, while they work out any problems and wait months for the sales embargo to lift.
eastcoast_pete - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link
Good! Now, let's see what AMD has to offer in the low and lower power mobile space, and see who's on first! Whoever gives me the best bang for my buck gets my orders.jospoortvliet - Saturday, July 27, 2019 - link
I’m afraid amd has no plans short term bringing their new cpu and gpu architectures to mobile... the upcoming app is still last gen cpu and gpu. Too bad, given the size of the mobile market, but I guess amd expects to use most of their manufacturing capacity for the enterprise market...stockolicious - Monday, July 29, 2019 - link
@Jospoor - Navi is their attempt to scale up and down - and the Samsung partnership is huge when you think in terms of mobile and scale for easy royalty payments.Rudde - Saturday, July 27, 2019 - link
It is wierd that AMD is a generation behind on mobile parts and Intel on desktop parts, but that's how it is. AMD will not have 7nm mobile ready for holiday season, while Intel will not have 10nm desktop ready.eva02langley - Saturday, July 27, 2019 - link
AMD mobiles chip will arrive in the next 6 months.Teckk - Saturday, July 27, 2019 - link
Did AMD announce this at Computex?urbanman2004 - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link
A/b freaking time Intel, took you long enough 😂wr3zzz - Saturday, July 27, 2019 - link
Y-series 10th Gen is now 9W? Can you do fanless at 9W?Xyler94 - Monday, July 29, 2019 - link
Technically, yes. But Intel uses base clock as TDP, not nominal boost. So to get best performance, a better cooling system is best