Intel's upcoming Nova Lake flagship mobile processors will reportedly feature up to 28 cores, according to leaked Core Ultra 9 4995HX specs. The Core Ultra 9 4970H will follow with 16 cores, taking the top positions in their respective lineups within the Core Ultra 4000 family.
4970H is 4+8+4+12 and 4995HX is 8+16+4+2, yes.
Jaykihn
Details of the two brand new Nova Lake mobile SKUs were shared by hardware leaker Jaykihn on October 17, 2026, outlining the core configurations for the upcoming HX and H series chips.
Core Ultra 9 4995HX Specifications
The Intel Core Ultra 9 4995HX is expected to be the fastest laptop option in the Nova Lake-HX stack, aimed at ultra-enthusiast and workstation designs. According to the leak, the chip will house an 8+16+4 configuration, pointing to 28 cores and 28 threads. This includes eight P-Cores based on the Coyote Cove architecture, 16 E-Cores, and four LP-E cores based on the Arctic Wolf architecture.
This processor will also feature two Xe3 iGPU cores and will be a replica of the single compute tile desktop variants. The source notes that Nova Lake-HX will only come in single compute tile flavors, whereas the desktop variants reach up to 52 cores using dual compute tiles. The same die will feature up to 144 MB of BFC or bLLC cache.
Core Ultra 9 4970H and iGPU Upgrades
The second reported chip is the Intel Core Ultra 9 4970H, positioned as one of the fastest Nova Lake-H models. It features a 4+8+4 core configuration, totaling 16 cores. While the core count remains identical to existing Panther Lake-H chips, the 4970H will feature up to 12 Xe3P iGPU cores, which is expected to boost its integrated graphics performance significantly.
Nova Lake CPU Configurations
| Die SKU | P-Cores (Coyote Cove) | E-Cores (Arctic Wolf) | LP-E Cores (Arctic Wolf) | Xe3 GPU Cores (Battlemage) | TDP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nova Lake-X | 16 | 32 | 4 | 2 | ~200W |
| Nova Lake-S | 8 | 16 | 4 | 2 | ~125W |
| Nova Lake-HX | 8 | 16 | 4 | 2 | ~55W |
| Nova Lake-HX | 4 | 8 | 4 | 2 | ~55W |
| Nova Lake-H | 4 | 8 | 4 | 12 | ~28W |
| Nova Lake-H | 4 | 8 | 4 | 4 | ~28W |
| Nova Lake-U | 4 | 0 | 4 | 4 | ~28W |
| Nova Lake-U | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | ~15W |
Manufacturing and Power Scaling
Intel's Nova Lake-HX chips will be manufactured using TSMC's N2P process technology. While the first samples were made using Intel's 18A-P technology, the final retail units were always planned to use the external node. The chip features a compute tile size of 14.8mm by 6.6mm, or 97.68mm2. The N2P variant is similar in width to the 4+8 configuration, whereas the earlier ES1 variant was larger.
Nova Lake-HX chips will carry a much higher power rating than standard Nova Lake-H parts. The HX processors are estimated to scale from 55W up to 160W, while the H chips are expected to scale from 28W up to an estimated 115W.
Expected Launch
Intel's Nova Lake-HX and Nova Lake-H CPUs are expected to appear in the first laptops by CES 2027. Although no new GPU announcements are expected, the Nova Lake lineup should offer strong performance and better capabilities while leveraging existing consumer and prosumer graphics families.
This article was written by AI from reporting by wccftech.com.
