Intel Coffee Lake to be a fourth 14nm processor architecture in 2018

A new Intel consumer laptop processor roadmap found its way to the public web, it reveals there's something interesting going on at Intel as the chip giant plans to launch a fourth generation 14nm architecture called "Coffee Lake".

Tick-tock-tock-tock
The upcoming Kaby Lake was already an exception to Intel's tick-tock schedule, for the last decade or so Intel's tick represented a shrinking of the previous architecture to a new process technology, whereas the tick represented a new architecture on the new process technology. Issues with the 10nm process technology prompted Intel to add a second tock (Kaby Lake) to its 14nm process and it seems we're now going to get a third tock with the 14nm Coffee Lake.

Cannon Lake for lower TDP CPUs, Coffee Lake for higher TDP parts
We're not exactly sure what's going on but this new leak from PC Watch reveals the 14nm Kaby Lake will be succeeded by both a 10nm Cannon Lake in 2017 and a 14nm Coffee Lake architecture in 2018. The 10nm parts will focus on low-power applications, whereas the fourth-gen 14nm chips will target higher TDP ranges.

The roadmap suggests the 10nm Cannon Lake processors will be used for the low-power Y-series (4.5W TDP) and U-series (15W TDP) processors, both lines will feature dual-core models with GT2 integrated graphics.

Higher-performance laptops will be served by Coffee Lake. The U-series (15-28W TDP) will feature dual-core parts with GT3e graphics, whereas the H-series (35W-45W TDP) will offer dual-core, quad-core and hexa-core CPUs with GT3e graphics.



At the moment, its unclear what this means for Intel's desktop processor lineup but the message here seems to be that 10nm high-performance parts could be further delayed.