American chipmaker Intel has unveiled its next-generation Intel Core Ultra mobile processors at its “AI Everywhere” event on December 14. Among the key upgrades that the new family of mobile processors bring is the dedicated AI acceleration capability across the lineup. The Intel Core Ultra processors are part of its Meteor Lake lineup, which is different from the nomenclature of its predecessor since it is built on Intel 4 process (7nm). To mark the difference, Intel named it Core Ultra instead of “Core i” identification. The new range of processors include the Intel Core Ultra 5, Core Ultra 7, and Core Ultra 9.
The new chipset family is offered in up to 16 cores, with six Performance-cores, eight Efficiency-cores and two low-power Efficiency-cores. It features 22 threads and next-generation “Intel Thread Director” technology for optimal workload scheduling.
Intel said that the new Performance-core (P-core) architecture brings improved instructions per cycle (IPC). And, the new Efficiency-cores (E-cores) and low-power Efficiency-cores (LP E-cores) provide scalable, multi-threaded performance of up to 11 per cent over the competition.
Intel Core Ultra has a built-in Intel Arc Graphic Processing Unit, which features up to eight cores for double the graphics performance over the previous generations – according to Intel. The GPU includes support for modern graphics features including hardware-accelerated ray tracing, mesh shading, HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 2.1, and more.
Intel’s newest Neural Processing Unit named AI Boost is dedicated for handling longer-running AI workloads at low power, and the company says that it complements AI handled on both the CPU and GPU, enabling 2.5x better power efficiency than the previous generation.
Intel has also announced that the Intel Evo laptop powered by the latest Core Ultra processors will deliver better cooling, quieter functioning, and increased power efficiency without compromising on performance.