Intel to begin mass production of world's most advanced chips in Arizona

The company's Fab 52 semiconductor facility in Arizona, will begin high-volume production new Panther Lake processor built on Intel 18A later this year, to power next-gen AI PCs and gaming devices

Chipmaker Intel is set to start mass production of its most advanced chips in the United States. The new processors, codenamed Panther Lake, are designed for laptops, AI-powered edge devices, and humanoid robots. Shipments of the chips are set to begin in the last quarter of 2025 (Oct-Dec), with products featuring them expected to hit the market next year. 

“Now our F52 [chip plant] here is fully operational... We have begun production in 18A in high-volume manufacturing,” said Kevin O’Buckley, Intel’s senior vice-president and head of foundry services, during the Intel Tech Tour event in Chandler, Arizona, Nikkei Asia reported. “It is the most advanced semiconductor technology in production today on planet Earth and it’s happening here in Arizona.” 

 

Panther Lake is the first chip to be built using Intel’s 18A technology, which refers to 18 angstroms or 1.8 nanometers, a scale that represents one of the smallest and most advanced nodes in the semiconductor industry. 

Nikkei Asia quoted Jim Johnson, Intel’s senior vice-president and head of the client computing group, as saying that the new chipset will support a wide range of AI PC users, from gamers and content creators to enterprise clients. He added that companies developing edge devices, which are used in smart cities, industrial automation and robotics, are eager to adopt the new processors.

 

Advanced tech and US-based production

Panther Lake uses Intel’s PowerVia technology, an industry-first approach delivering power from the back of the chip wafer. This improves energy efficiency and signal routing, boosting overall computing performance. Intel’s F52 plant in Arizona, where construction began in 2021, will not only produce Panther Lake chips but also support future generations of processors. 

Smaller nanometer nodes, like the 1.8 nm of Panther Lake, generally indicate more advanced, efficient, and powerful chips.  Competitors such as TSMC and Samsung are working on 2-nanometer production and related power-routing technologies, but Intel’s lead in producing these chips in the US provides a strategic advantage. 

 

  Intel’s Panther Lake chip highlights

• Lunar Lake-level power efficiency and Arrow Lake-class performance

• Up to 16 new performance-cores (P-cores) and efficient-cores (E-cores) delivering more than 50 per cent faster CPU performance compared to previous generation

• New Intel Arc GPU with up to 12 Xe cores deliver more than 50 per cent faster graphics performance compared to previous generation

• Balanced XPU design for next-level AI acceleration with up to 180 Platform TOPS (trillions of operations per second)

 

Disaggregated design, advanced packaging

Intel has adopted a “disaggregated” design approach, connecting separate chip components or “tiles”, using advanced packaging techniques. Panther Lake combines CPU tiles, GPU tiles and a control platform managing WiFi, USB, and other functions. Some GPU tiles are produced using Intel’s own process, while others are made in partnership with TSMC. 

The company is also developing its 18A process for next-generation server chip Xeon 6+, called Clearwater Forest. The architecture includes 12 CPU compute tiles, two interface tiles and three active base tiles, all stacked and interconnected with Intel’s 3D packaging technology. 

Tim Wilson, Intel’s vice-president of silicon engineering, said the new chipset allows clients to significantly reduce data centre space while improving performance.   

 

Intel bets big on comeback

Intel has faced strong competition from AMD and Qualcomm, but its latest chips aim to regain market share and confidence. In 2024, Intel accounted for 71.8 per cent of PC chip shipments, while AMD held 16.8 per cent, with the remainder going to Arm-based devices. 

The company has also attracted significant investment, including $5 billion in partnerships with Nvidia, $2 billion from Japan’s SoftBank, and $8.9 billion from the US government.