Intel's Panther Lake chips will be available in Q1 2026, not late 2025

Intel’s next-generation Core Ultra processors codenamed Panther Lake, will most likely hit the market in the first quarter of 2026. That is a delay from earlier expectations as the company seemingly has some issues with the process node, but the EEP (Early Enablement Program) should start in the second half of this year.

Panther Lake processors will begin High-Volume Manufacturing (HVM) in September 2025, followed by a proper launch in October 2025. The processors will start under an Early Enablement Program (EEP) with limited availability to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) first. According to some recently revealed slides (via VideoCardz), general consumer availability will be in January 2026.

This phased rollout plan is actually Intel’s strategy with its Lunar Lake processors, which were launched months before the schedule for major product launches and releases. The design for Panther Lake is claimed to succeed Lunar Lake, diverging from memory-on-a-substrate design, as Intel has given no indication of using this architecture for future lines like Panther and Nova Lake.

The delay to 2026 has been the subject of industry conjecture, with some attributing it to challenges in yielding acceptable levels of usable chips on the 18A process. Intel hasn’t, however, made such speculations official.

Meanwhile, as Intel undergoes this transition, the company’s new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, is making strategic overhauls in manufacturing and AI operations to revitalize Intel’s competitive advantage in the semiconductor industry.