Intel reveals Processors with System on Chip tiled Architecture for AI, Gaming and Video Laptops

Intel announced their upcoming 14th-Gen Meteor Lake CPUs. Intel has demonstrated an architecture design with on-die similar to Apple’s new M1 and M2 chips. Intel’s advancements on Meteor Lake will play a key role in making these new CPUs uniquely different from older ones, especially if they implement this new CPU architecture design. The chip design was shown off in a demonstration, but Intel did not reveal if this was an entry-level i3 or flagship i9 processor. Still, the architectural design displayed by Intel on this Meteor Lake CPU indicates a drastic change that directly affects how the computer's processor would operate.

Intel Releases Meteor Lake as Intel Core Ultra Processor

The Meteor Lake CPU design features an on-die design called the 3D Foveros Base Die and the CPU Tile is Intel 4. Intel articulates die disaggregation technique as a ‘tiled’ architecture, whereas the rest of the industry refers to this as a chiplet architecture. The new Intel 4 process produces better performance at any given point on the voltage/frequency curve than the Intel 7 node previously used in Intel’s PC chips, meaning it can either run faster at the same power level, or run at the same speed with lower power. Intel's strategy is extracting higher power efficiency with this design resulting in an considerable 20% improvement in power economy.

A ‘tiled’ processor refers to a chip using advanced packaging that enables parallel communication between the chip units. However, standard packaging employs a serial interface that isn’t as responsive or energy efficient. Fortunately, the tile design is similar enough to the chiplet method to use chiplet tech. The other components are from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company TSMC and consist of SoC Tile,  GPU Tile, and  IO Tile.

The Meteor Lake Tile Architecture

Meteor Lake has AI integrated directly into the chip through a neural processing unit (NPU), a dedicated AI engine that’s custom designed  to run sustained AI inference workloads. Paired with a forthcoming version of Windows supporting deep AI integration, expected summer of 2024, Meteor Lake may signal the genesis of the AI PC era, computers that can tap into AI to streamline the computing experience and make laptops and desktops exponentially more powerful.

Intel’s 14th Gen processors were announced officially at the Intel Innovation 2023 event held in San Jose, California on September 19-20th. The next-generation CPUs are expected to be part of a ‘Raptor Lake-S Refresh‘ lineup, rather than Meteor Lake. The Meteor Lake architecture is on new gaming laptop CPUs.