Intel Announces Forthcoming Chip Lineup 'Ice Lake' Built on 10nm+ Process
To the surprise of many, Intel recently announced a forthcoming lineup of chips dubbed as the Ice Lake and confirmed that it will be built on a 10-nanometer plus (nm+) process.
According to a dedicated product page: "The Ice Lake processor family is a successor to the 8th generation Intel Core processor family. These processors utilize Intel's industry-leading 10 nm+ process technology."
The brief product description confirmed that the Ice Lake will be released following the Coffee Lake chips to be unveiled on Aug. 21.
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Anandtech was one of the first to spot Intel's subtle announcement of the Ice Lake when it was included in the manufacturer's central list of processors and chips based on their Platform Code Name.
Unveiling a processing chip lineup that might take a while before it is released is not the typical strategy that Intel uses when launching new products. That makes this case extra peculiar.
The latest chip released by Intel, Kaby Lake, is built with the 14nm process. Its successor, Cannon Lake, is supposed to be the first 10nm chip from Intel. And that is all there is to know about Cannon Lake. This makes the sequence of the products' release more confusing. As Anandtech pointed out, Intel referred to the Ice Lake as a post-8th generation chip. But, notably, Intel's 8th generation chip, aka Coffee Lake, is another 14nm-built processor.
The same Anandtech report recalled that Intel previously confirmed that they were set to unveil the Coffee Lake at a dedicated event on Aug. 21. It is possible that in the same event, Intel is also gearing up to reveal more — but possibly not all — information about the Ice Lake since it is not expected to ship until 2019.
On the other hand, it is also difficult not to attribute Intel's new approach of introducing forthcoming Core chips to the more aggressive strategy AMD has taken in the past few months. AMD is undeniably on a roll in introducing lineup after lineup of cheaper but competitive processors such as the Ryzen Threadripper family.
