As AMDs processors close in with some Zen slowly yet steadily we see some movement at Intel as well. For ages now 4-core processors have been the norm in the mainstream desktop segment, it seems that 6-core Intel processors are finally becoming mainstream in 2018.
This news-item (from July 2016) has been updated with new screenshots.
In it's yearly Form 10-K document about Intel's financials the company now really makes note of a three-step cycle. So after a new procedure (die shrink), there will be a new architecture followed by an upgrade of that architecture. This way Intel can release a new processor each year. However it now seems there will even be a 4th step.
Basically following Kaby Lake to release there will be a fourth generation processor series fabbed on the 14nm production process called Coffee Lake. It is interesting as at that same time the mobile/laptop Cannon Lake processors have already moved to 10 nm. It does make sense as Intel over a year ago announced to abandon its tick-tock model, which alternately introduced a new architecture and a new production process. Basically Intel will use whatever fab process works out the best for them practially and economically aimed at a certain target area.
Coffee Lake CPUs will get two, four or six cores and will get a GT3e, an on-board GPU with dedicated video memory. The processors are rated at a 35 Watt to 45 Watt TDP range.
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Microarchitecture | CPU series | Tick or Tock | Cycle | Fab node | Year Released |
Presler/Cedar Mill | Pentium 4 / D | Tick | 65 nm | 2006 | |
Conroe/Merom | Core 2 Duo/Quad | Tock | 65 nm | 2006 | |
Penryn | Core 2 Duo/Quad | Tick | 45 nm | 2007 | |
Nehalem | Core i | Tock | 45 nm | 2008 | |
Westmere | Core i | Tick | 32 nm | 2010 | |
Sandy Bridge | Core i 2xxx | Tock | 32 nm | 2011 | |
Ivy Bridge | Core i 3xxx | Tick | 22 nm | 2012 | |
Haswell | Core i 4xxx | Tock | 22 nm | 2013 | |
Broadwell | Core i 5xxx | Tick | Process | 14 nm | 2014 & 2015 for desktops |
Skylake | Core i 6xxx | Tock | Architecture | 14 nm | 2016 |
Kaby lake | Core i 7xxx | Tock | Optimization | 14 nm | 2017 |
Coffee Lake | Core i 7xxx | Tock | Optimization | 10 nm | 2018 |
Cannonlake | Core i 8xxx? | Tick | Process | 10 nm | 2018 |
Icelake | Core i 8xxx? | Tock | Architecture | 10 nm | 2019 |
Tiger Lake | Core i 9xxx? | Tock | Optimization | 10 nm | 2020 |
tba | tba | Tick | Process | 7 nm | 2020 |
The new road-map that was spotted at PC Watch also shows the first Cannon Lake processors scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2017. This involves the U and Y models, for laptops and 2-in-1's.