Intel’s top laptop chip of the next batch would have around 28 cores. That is the number leaker Jaykihn gives for the Core Ultra 9 4995HX. This model would sit at the top of the Nova Lake-HX family inside the Core Ultra 4000 range, made for high-performance laptops and mobile workstations.

Its setup would be 8+16+4. That means 8 P-cores with the Coyote Cove design, 16 E-cores, and 4 more LP-E cores based on Arctic Wolf, for a total of 28 cores and 28 threads. The graphics part would be just 2 Xe3 cores. This makes sense, since this chip would be a copy of the desktop versions with a single compute tile.

That same die would have up to 144 MB of BFC or bLLC cache. It is worth remembering that Nova Lake-HX would only come in single-tile versions, while on desktop it would grow up to 52 cores with two tiles.

The second leaked chip is the Core Ultra 9 4970H, one of the fastest in the Nova Lake-H line. Here the setup would be 4+8+4, which means 16 cores, the same number that current Panther Lake-H chips already offer. The jump would not be in the CPU, but in the integrated graphics. These would reach 12 Xe3P cores, compared to 4 in the lower version.

For power use, the gap between the two lines would stay the same as in Arrow Lake. The HX chips would start at 55 W and go up to an estimated 160 W, while the H chips would start at 28 W and reach about 115 W.

As for making the chips, Nova Lake-HX would be built on TSMC’s N2P process. The first samples were made with 18A-P, although the plan was always to use the outside node for the final chips on sale. The compute tile would measure 14.8 × 6.6 mm, about 97.68 mm², compared to an ES1 version that was a bit bigger. The first laptops with these chips should show up around CES 2027, but keep in mind that Intel has not officially confirmed any of this.