Intel’s next-generation ‘Nova Lake’ desktop processor will feature a sixth-generation NPU design. Renowned hardware leaker jaykihn0 has revealed that the ‘Nova Lake-S’ desktop configuration will include an NPU on one of its tiles, providing 74 TOPS of INT8 performance, significantly surpassing any previous products Intel has launched in the desktop space.
As of now, Intel’s ‘Arrow Lake-S’, launched alongside ‘Meteor Lake’ in 2023, features NPU 3, which provides 11.5 INT8 TOPS. The most powerful NPU from Intel is planned to be released in early 2026 with ‘Panther Lake’, offering up to 50 TOPS performance for Copilot+ AI PCs.
The news of Intel upgrading the NPU in ‘Nova Lake’ has been known since the end of last month, when compiler patches confirmed that the new generation of desktop chips would integrate the new NPU 6. However, it is only now that its specific performance targets have become clear.
As Intel enhances its NPU on the same microarchitecture, it is expected that the NPU in Nova Lake will have a larger TOPS budget while maintaining software compatibility. This is excellent news for software that has already integrated NPU acceleration in previous generations, as the performance improvements will be seamlessly integrated.