Intel shows the first Meteor Lake chips

Intel showed a prototype of its processor known by the codename Meteor Lake, which is scheduled for release in 2023. The fourteenth-generation Core CPUs will be the first of the company to use a multi-chiplet design for the consumer market. Right now the company is testing interconnect technology that will link all parts of Meteor Lake together.

Photo Credit: CNET CNET's Stephen Shankland had the rare opportunity to visit Intel's Fab 42 near Chandler , Arizona, and to snap some photos of Intel's upcoming Meteor Lake, Sapphire Rapids, and Ponte Vecchio products. Intel's Arizona plant is where the company manufactures its most advanced processors using 10nm, 10nm SuperFin and 10nm Enhanced SuperFin (now called Intel 7) nodes and uses its advanced chip packaging technologies. Intel powered a Meteor Lake compute module (made using EUV-enhanced Intel 4 manufacturing technology) just over a month ago, while the Meteor Lake CPU sample pictured is being used to test its interconnect technologies. >
Previously, Intel had claimed that its processors codenamed Meteor Lake would consist of three tiles: a compute die with an unknown number of Ocean Cove high-performance cores and energy-efficient cores, a die GPU with 96-192 EU and an SoC die with units such as a memory controller, a PCIe controller and a Thunderbolt controller. However, the test chip evidently has four tiles (or chiplets) and it is unclear what the fourth tile is intended for.

Photo Credit: CNET So far, Intel has only revealed that the Meteor Lake compute die will be made using its own Intel 4 manufacturing technology (formerly known as 7nm), while the SoC die will be built on a node low consumption. These test chips use Intel's second-generation Foveros technology for stacking, demonstrating that the chips are not only made up of four tiles, but that the latter are also stacked in 3D on a die base.