Intel's next generation of laptop processors is starting to take shape, and the numbers are big. According to hardware leaker Jaykihn, reported by Wccftech, Intel is prepping two flagship Nova Lake mobile chips: the Core Ultra 9 4995HX and the Core Ultra 9 4970H. Neither has been announced by Intel, so treat the configurations as credible leaks rather than confirmed specs.
The Core Ultra 9 4995HX is tipped to be the fastest Nova Lake-HX chip, aimed at high-end and workstation laptops. The leaked configuration lists 8 performance cores built on Intel's Coyote Cove architecture, paired with 16 efficiency cores and 4 low-power efficiency cores based on Arctic Wolf, for 28 cores and 28 threads total. Graphics duties reportedly fall to just 2 Xe3 integrated GPU cores, modest by comparison, since HX chips lean on discrete graphics anyway. The leak also points to as much as 144MB of cache, described as BFC or bLLC cache in the report.
A different balance for the H-series
The Core Ultra 9 4970H takes a different approach. It keeps the 4+8+4 arrangement, 16 cores in total, the same core count as the current Panther Lake-H chips. What changes, according to the leak, is graphics: Intel is said to be packing in up to 12 Xe3P iGPU cores, a meaningful jump for a chip expected to power thin laptops without dedicated graphics.
Power envelopes reportedly separate the two lines sharply. The HX chips are said to scale from 55W up to 160W, while the H-series tops out at an estimated 115W, with a floor around 28W. That mirrors the gap Intel has kept between its HX and H parts since Arrow Lake.
Built on TSMC's N2P node
The leak also gets into manufacturing. Nova Lake-HX chips are reportedly moving to TSMC's N2P process for retail production, after early engineering samples were built on Intel's own 18A-P node. The compute tile itself is pegged at 14.8mm by 6.6mm, or roughly 97.68 square millimeters, slightly smaller than the earlier sample silicon.
Nova Lake-HX is expected to stick to a single compute tile across its mobile lineup, unlike the desktop side of the family, where dual-tile designs reportedly push core counts as high as 52. No new integrated or discrete GPU architecture is expected alongside these chips, so Nova Lake's graphics gains look set to come from Xe3 and Xe3P tuning rather than a clean-sheet redesign.
Wccftech's report puts the first laptops carrying these chips at around CES 2027, which lines up with Intel's usual cadence of unveiling H and HX silicon at the January show before partners ship machines later in the year. Until Intel confirms anything officially, these core counts, cache figures and power numbers remain leak territory, not a spec sheet.
CDFiled by The Computing Desk
Laptops, desktops, processors, graphics cards and the operating systems that run on them.
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