The short version
- Intel gives every chip family a lake codename before it gets a retail name. Arrow Lake is Core Ultra 200S desktop chips. Lunar Lake is Core Ultra 200V thin laptops. Panther Lake is Core Ultra series 3 laptops.
- Wildcat Lake is the budget laptop chip sold as Core Series 3, without the "Ultra". Nova Lake is next year's desktop and laptop family, and Moon Lake is a rumoured chip for very cheap laptops.
- The big shift is the factory. Arrow Lake and Lunar Lake are made mostly at TSMC. Panther Lake and Wildcat Lake use Intel's own 18A process, and Intel has confirmed Nova Lake moves to 18A-P.
- If you're buying an Intel desktop in India today, it's Arrow Lake. If it's a new thin laptop, check whether the sticker says Lunar Lake or Panther Lake, because they're quite different.
Why lakes, and why it matters
Codenames exist because Intel talks about chips years before they have a retail name. Engineers, leakers and motherboard makers all use them, so most early news about a chip arrives under its lake name. By the time it's in a shop, it's a "Core Ultra 7 265K" or a "Core Ultra X9 388H", and the codename is only in the spec sheet.
The trouble is that the retail names don't tell you much on their own. A "Core Ultra 200" chip could be a desktop Arrow Lake part or a thin-laptop Lunar Lake part, and those are very different designs. The codename tells you which one you're actually getting.
Image: Zerocade
Arrow Lake: today's desktop chips
- Sold as: Core Ultra 200S (desktop), 200HX (gaming laptops)
- Launched: late 2024, with a small 200S Plus refresh in early 2026
- Made by: TSMC, on its N3B process for the main CPU tile
Arrow Lake is what's in a new Intel gaming desktop. The flagship Core Ultra 9 285K has 8 P-cores and 16 E-cores, boosts to 5.7GHz, and is rated at 125W base and 250W turbo power. It uses the LGA1851 socket and launched at about $589 (roughly ₹56,000 before taxes). It also has a small 13 TOPS NPU for AI tasks.
What it doesn't have is Hyper-Threading, which Intel dropped with this generation. That's why its thread count looks low next to older Core i9 chips.
Lunar Lake: the thin-and-light laptop chip
- Sold as: Core Ultra 200V
- Launched: Q3 2024
- Made by: TSMC N3B
Lunar Lake was built to fight Apple and Qualcomm on battery life. The Core Ultra 9 288V has just 4 P-cores and 4 LP E-cores (low-power efficiency cores), puts the memory on the chip package itself, and has a much stronger 48 TOPS NPU than Arrow Lake. Its Arc 140V graphics have 8 Xe cores. The catch is that memory is fixed at purchase, because it's part of the chip. Our P-cores and E-cores guide explains the three core types.
Panther Lake: Intel's own factory comes back
- Sold as: Core Ultra series 3 (laptops), plus an Arc G3 chip for handheld PCs
- Launched: Q1 2026
- Made by: Intel 18A for the CPU, with the graphics tile on TSMC N3E
Panther Lake is the first big chip on 18A, Intel's own leading process, which matters because Intel is trying to win back factory business from TSMC. The top Core Ultra X9 388H has 4 P-cores, 8 E-cores and 4 LP E-cores, Arc B390 graphics with 12 Xe cores and a 50 TOPS NPU. Intel claims up to 77% better gaming than the Lunar Lake 288V. That's Intel's number, not an independent test.
The handheld version, Arc G3, uses 2 P-cores, 8 E-cores and 4 LP E-cores with 10 Xe cores of Arc B370 graphics, running at 8W to 30W. Our process node explainer covers what "18A" and "3nm" actually mean.
Image: Zerocade
Wildcat Lake: the budget one
- Sold as: Core Series 3 (no "Ultra")
- Launched: April 2026
- Made by: Intel 18A
Wildcat Lake is a cut-down cousin of Panther Lake for cheaper laptops and mini PCs, with up to 2 P-cores and 4 LP E-cores on a BGA 1516 package. It's in demand: Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said in October that Wildcat Lake demand is "outstripping supply". Look for "Core Series 3" in the spec sheet, since older chips also use the plain Core 5 and Core 7 names.
What's coming: Nova Lake and Moon Lake
Nova Lake is the next desktop and laptop family. Intel has confirmed that it's the first client CPU on 18A-P, a tuned version of 18A, and said more details are coming at CES in January. A new LGA 1954 socket means a new motherboard. Everything else is reported or leaked: up to 52 cores at the top, extra cache for gaming, and four-digit Core Ultra 4000 names. We've covered the 18A-P confirmation, the first LGA 1954 motherboard, a 28-core PassMark leak and the naming leak.
Moon Lake is a rumour about an entry-level laptop chip with no P-cores at all, just four LP E-cores at around 6W. Intel hasn't announced it. Our Moon Lake story has the leak.
The cheat sheet
| Codename | Sold as | For | Made by | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrow Lake | Core Ultra 200S / 200HX | Desktops, gaming laptops | TSMC N3B | On sale |
| Lunar Lake | Core Ultra 200V | Thin laptops | TSMC N3B | On sale |
| Panther Lake | Core Ultra series 3, Arc G3 | Laptops, handhelds | Intel 18A | On sale |
| Wildcat Lake | Core Series 3 | Budget laptops, mini PCs | Intel 18A | On sale |
| Nova Lake | Core Ultra 4000 (leaked) | Desktops, laptops | Intel 18A-P | Confirmed, details at CES |
| Moon Lake | Not known | Very cheap laptops | Intel 18A (reported) | Rumour |
If you're shopping now, check the codename in the laptop's spec sheet or on Intel's ARK site before trusting the "Core Ultra" number alone. If you're planning a desktop upgrade, it's worth waiting for Intel's CES details on Nova Lake, since LGA1851 boards won't take it.
