Intel is betting its future in PCs and data centers on two families it has not yet officially presented: Nova Lake for desktops and laptops, and Coral Rapids for servers. During the third-quarter 2026 earnings call, CEO Lip-Bu Tan confirmed that Nova Lake, the Core Ultra Series 4 line, will cover the entire client range, from high-end desktops to mainstream laptops, and that it is the first Intel product built on the 18A-P process.
So far the company has talked about its upcoming chips almost exclusively during investor presentations. At events in 2026 Nova Lake has been nearly absent, with the focus on Panther Lake and a refreshed Arrow Lake for desktops. That communication gap matters, because the Core Ultra 200S series failed to win over consumers and did not manage to counter AMD's Ryzen 9000. Nova Lake is meant to fill that hole, with a new socket that Intel says will last longer than its predecessors.
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According to Tan, the launch is ahead of schedule and Intel expects twice as many design wins as Panther Lake at launch. The company said it will share more at CES in January, the event where Intel is expected to present the chips officially. On models, leaked information points to a staggered rollout, with the first desktop chips expected in the first quarter of 2027 and new configurations with larger cache, designed to challenge AMD's X3D processors in gaming.
The server side and the comparison with AMD
In the data center the picture is more complicated. In September, AMD ran out of production capacity for EPYC 9006 processors through all of 2027 and has begun taking orders for 2028. Intel still has Diamond Rapids pending, while AMD is already ramping production of its EPYC Venice chips with up to 256 cores. For Intel, the server segment remains central to its AI strategy, but limited production capacity has constrained sales.
The next generation, Coral Rapids, due in 2028 on the 14A process, should make Intel competitive with the EPYC family. Tan indicated that the following generation should overtake AMD. The plan also includes bringing back technical choices that former CEO Pat Gelsinger had removed, such as simultaneous multithreading (SMT).
The client market picture
The client segment took a heavy hit in the third quarter due to memory shortages and rising prices. Intel has already warned of further declines in coming quarters, and with DRAM expected to worsen in 2027, the outlook for consumer PCs remains difficult. Against this backdrop, Tan says he is confident the market will normalize and that the new lineup will bring meaningful share gains.
Information on the 14A and the chips in development comes from several sources, but timelines and final specifications are those Intel communicated during the call and will be confirmed only with the official announcement.
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