Intel revealed its response to Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite and AMD's Strix Point chips yesterday (Tuesday) — the new Core Ultra 200V series processors, formerly known as Lunar Lake. The tech giant claims the new processors can compete with, and even surpass, their rivals in nearly every metric.
The new processors can execute 120 trillion operations per second (120 TOPS) thanks to a combination of three components: the main processor, the GPU, and a dedicated AI unit (NPU). The new NPU is four times more powerful than its predecessor, allowing computers to perform AI tasks at unprecedented speeds. Additionally, the new processors offer 50% lower power consumption than the previous generation, enabling users to enjoy battery life of 11 hours or more in daily use. Some models will even reach 17 or 20 hours of local video playback.
Intel also boasts that the new processors will support over 300 new AI applications, enhancing the user experience in various fields: faster and more efficient video editing, digital content creation using text commands, detection of deepfakes, and more.
The new processors also feature improvements in performance and graphics:
- A new architecture with enhanced performance cores (P-cores) and efficiency cores (E-cores), enabling higher performance at lower power consumption.
- A new integrated graphics unit based on the Xe2 architecture, providing 50% better performance than the previous generation and up to an 80% improvement in gaming performance.
- Support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, offering speeds of up to 11 GB per second.
- A new security engine, the Intel Partner Security Engine, providing enhanced protection against cyber threats.Israeli Pride
The Lunar Lake project, which led to the development of the new processors, was managed entirely from Israel, from concept to final production. Intel reports that hundreds of Israeli engineers and professionals were involved in the project, demonstrating innovative and creative capabilities that led to the development of a groundbreaking AI processor.
"About three years ago, we recognized the tremendous potential of AI in personal computers. We decided to invest in developing a powerful AI engine, even though it was unclear at the time how it would be used. Today, we see that it was the right bet," says Zohar Tzabar, Vice President of Intel's Client Computing Group and manager of the Lunar-Lake and Panther-Lake projects.
"The Lunar Lake project has been led from Israel from start to finish," Tzabar explains. "The Israeli team was responsible for all critical stages — product definition, concept development, architecture design, and execution. The entire project involved hundreds of engineers and professionals who brought with them extensive experience in advanced processor design and an ability to think outside the box, which allowed us to develop a processor with advanced AI capabilities even before the market realized the need for them."
All computers with Intel Core Ultra 200V processors running the latest version of Windows will be eligible to receive Copilot+ PC features as a free update starting in November. Computers based on Intel Core Ultra 200V processors will be available for pre-order starting September 3, with full availability in stores and online starting September 24. Prices will be announced by the manufacturers.