Intel CEO: Production of the new 18A node Panther Lake CPU is scheduled for next year.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, who is known for posting pithy Bible quotes (yes, it's true), has been promoting Panther Lake, Intel's next-generation CPU based on its upcoming 18A node.

Gelsinger claimed in a post to X that Panther Lake was up and running, and had booted operating system. The Intel CEO says that the product is slated to be in full production by next year. Architecturally, not much is known about Panther Lake. The new 18A node that it uses brings two important innovations, as Gelsinger has mentioned.

"Intel 18A brings together two critical innovations that will enable customers to leapfrog in scale and power efficiency. RibbonFET gate all-around and PowerVia technology on the backside - a first for foundry clients," Gelsinger said.

The 18A node, for the record is the last of the so-called 5 new nodes in 4 years touted as part of Intel's plan to regain the technology leadership from its rivals, including Taiwanese chip manufacturing giant TSMC.

Intel 7 was the first of five nodes released in four years. It was a rebranding of Intel's 10nm node, which had been a problem. Intel 7 was the predecessor to Intel 4, which is arguably the node formerly known as 7nm, with a modest Intel 3 rev. Intel 20A followed and Intel 18A was a revision of that.

Keep up? It's still the case that the fact that the new Panther Lake processor family is built on an Intel node is perhaps the most notable feature. TSMC has been contracted to manufacture the two active silicon tiles for Intel's upcoming Lunar Lake Laptop Chip.

Intel's next generation desktop CPU, Arrow Lake, which precedes Panther Lake, is not yet known to be entirely composed. Most rumours suggest that only a few Arrow Lake CPU models may contain any active Intel silicon (as opposed an interposer tile which ties all the active tiles together), with the rest of the chips and tiles being made by TSMC.

It's also not known if Panther Lake is a monolithic CPU or a tile-based one. However, an Intel news article claimed that "other signs of health" include Panther Lake DDR Memory performance already running at the target frequency. It does seem that being built on Intel silicon rather than TSMC is a big part of its identity.

You could say that Panther Lake CPUs and 18A node will be the biggest test yet of Intel's attempts to return to its former glory and put its current problems to rest. This is true for both the 18A and Panther Lake CPUs.

Intel 18A has been marketed by Intel as a killer node in its new foundry services offering, Intel Foundry. Intel Foundry is a service that competes with TSMC to provide customer fabs for customers, including potential rivals like Nvidia and AMD.

In short, Panther Lake and 18A are important. Intel will be hoping that the Almighty is by its side at launch time.