Intel Readies "Moon Lake" and "Wildcat Lake Refresh" Built on 18A Node
Intel is reportedly preparing two new processor SKUs focused on extremely low-power computing.
Why am I seeing this Ranked on source trust — TechPowerUp
It ranks mainly on source trust: TechPowerUp is the most reliable outlet we track on this subject, and is the only one on the story so far.
Single-sourced. No second organisation has confirmed it yet.
Link-outLink-out, because only one organisation carries it and no first-party source is on it. Link-out means we point at the publisher and say nothing of our own.
| Factor | Weight | Score | Contribution | Where it came from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corroboration | 0.35 | 0.39 | +0.135 33% | 1 independent org on the story. Tier-3 aggregators never corroborate — they can show something is circulating, never that it is true. |
| Source trustleads | 0.25 | 0.80 | +0.200 48% | TechPowerUp is the highest-trust source on this story. Trust is taken from the best source, not averaged. |
| Pickup rate | 0.20 | 0.00 | +0.000 0% | One counted organisation, so there is no spread to measure — nothing has picked this up to set a rate. |
| Freshness | 0.20 | 0.41 | +0.081 19% | Halves every 10 hours from the newest item on the story. This is the only factor that rewards a story for nothing more than being recent. |
Corroboration counts distinct organisations, once each, and only from tiers 1 and 2. Freshness halves every 10 hours, so this ranking is a snapshot and will differ at the next build.
Moon Lake is a low-power processor built on Intel's 18A node featuring up to four Darkmont efficiency cores and no performance cores. The design targets embedded devices like network-attached storage with a base power rating of 6 watts, comparable to smartphone processors. It uses the BGA1516 package and may succeed the N-Series lineup of low-power chips.
Wildcat Lake Refresh increases the performance tier by doubling the P-Core count from two to four while retaining the four Darkmont efficiency cores and up to two Xe3 GPU cores. The original Wildcat Lake topped out at 35 watts, though the refresh's power envelope remains unspecified. Both processors use the same 18A manufacturing process.
The Wildcat Lake Refresh adds vPro support, marking a shift toward enterprise applications. This feature set distinguishes it from the original Wildcat Lake, which launched earlier this year without enterprise capabilities. The refresh maintains the Cougar Cove microarchitecture while expanding core configurations for business-focused deployments.
What happened
Intel is reportedly preparing two new processor SKUs focused on extremely low-power computing. The first, called "Moon Lake," is designed as a pure low-power efficiency (LPE) core SoC. The "Moon Lake" generation features no P-Cores and up to 4 "Darkmont" LPE-Cores on the Intel 18A die. Unlike "Wildcat Lake," which includes at least 2 P-Cores, "Moon Lake" is intended to be a much smaller design for embedded devices like NAS. The base power of "Moon Lake" is reportedly rated at 6 W, similar to an SoC typically used in smartphones. The number of Xe3 cores in this SKU is unknown, but since "Wildcat Lake" has up to 2 Xe3 cores, we expect "Moon Lake" to have half of that to maintain its 6 W TDP.
How this story arrived
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- 01 Techpowerup first seen Intel Readies "Moon Lake" and "Wildcat Lake Refresh" Built on 18A Node
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