Intel has ‘tape-in’ second 10nm-generation chips ‘Ice Lake’ ready

According to Intel, the upcoming 10nm generation of processors with the internal name Cannon Lake is on track and the tape-in ​​of the second 10nm generation Ice Lake has taken place. The first Cannon Lake processors are expected at the end of this year.

Intel calls the Ice Lake tape-in ​​a ‘milestone’. A tape-in ​​is the penultimate step in the design process of a chip: the different building blocks of the design are ready and can be put together for the tape-out. This is the final design step, after which production can begin.

According to The Motley Fool, Cannon Lake production will begin at the end of this year and Intel’s first 10nm chips should be available in late 2017, early 2018. The 10nm chips will be more energy efficient than the last generation 14nm chips from Intel and the Cannon Lake processors will therefore become U and Y chips for laptops. In the second half of 2018, desktop and high-end processors based on Ice Lake will probably appear.

Meanwhile, the next desktop generation of 14nm chips called Coffee Lake is already upon us, according to a roadmap Intel showed ahead of the Computex trade show. High-end processors from Coffee Lake-S with six and four cores will be released in August and September, along with the Z370 chipset. There will also be overclockable ‘K’ versions of these hexa and quad cores.

Coffee Lake is the name for the chips of the fourth 14nm generation, which will be released as 8th generation Core processors. On average, they run about 15 percent faster than Kaby Lake, according to Intel. In the first quarter of 2018, the mainstream Coffee Lake-S chips, including dual-cores, will come along with the 300 Series chipset, according to the roadmap published by 3DCenter at the end of May. In any case, according to WinFuture, Coffee Lake won’t be released until February, which would mean a delay, but this site doesn’t show a roadmap and appears to be based on the same as 3DCenter.