The Arrow Lake refresh will also support higher memory frequencies, helping to mitigate previous gaming performance issues caused by latency.

The flagship Core Ultra 9 will feature two compute tiles with 8 P-cores and 16 E-cores each, while the Core Ultra 7 will have two partially disabled tiles with 7 P-cores and 12 E-cores.

While the Core Ultra 200S may use older fabrication nodes for its GPU and I/O tiles, outsourcing is likely to ensure efficiency and capacity.

Intel's hybrid foundry strategy, including TSMC collaboration, aims to ensure sufficient chip supply and address yield concerns associated with the 18A node.

Intel's upcoming Nova Lake-S processors will be manufactured using TSMC's advanced 2nm-class N2 process, marking a departure from their traditional in-house 18A node due to potential production challenges.

This shift makes Nova Lake-S the second 'Core Ultra' desktop lineup relying on third-party fabrication, with the chips supporting high memory speeds up to 8,800 MT/s and featuring a new hybrid iGPU platform with Xe3 and Xe4 cores.

The Nova Lake-S architecture is expected to include up to 52 cores, combining high-performance P-cores, efficient E-cores, and ultra-low-power LPE-cores, representing a significant increase in core count over the previous Arrow Lake generation.

Rumors suggest that Nova Lake-S could deliver up to 25% higher speeds and 36% greater energy efficiency, potentially marking a milestone in Intel's CPU development.

Intel has completed the tape-out phase for Nova Lake-S at TSMC's facilities, indicating that the first dies are ready for testing and quality control, with retail availability expected in the second half of 2026.

Due to the need to meet production schedules, Intel's Nova Lake-S will utilize TSMC for its fabrication, especially since previous lines like Meteor Lake were produced at Intel's own facilities.

To utilize Nova Lake-S, users will need to upgrade to the new LGA 1854 socket and 900-series chipsets, which will support next-generation features tied to this architecture.

A refresh of the Arrow Lake-S is anticipated later in 2025, with minor clock speed increases and additional E-cores aimed at improving performance and addressing cache and memory latency issues.