Intel's upcoming Arrow Lake "S" Desktop and "HX" laptop CPUs are set to be released without dedicated NPU hardware. NPUs will only be available in Arrow Lake-H/U and Lunar Lake chips, with Core Ultra 200V chips providing up to 48 TOPS of AI performance. Currently, AMD is the sole provider of desktop chips with dedicated NPUs in their Ryzen 8000G "Hawk Point" series for the AM5 platform. However, Intel may be considering adding NPUs to future Arrow Lake-S and Arrow Lake-HX updates, as per Jaykihn, a prominent Intel-related source.
The potential update could involve integrating an NPU into the SOC tile, potentially increasing the die size by 2.8 mm compared to current Arrow Lake designs. The package size is expected to remain the same to ensure socket compatibility, but motherboard manufacturers would need to activate Fast Voltage Mode (FVM) on VccSA rails to support NPU functionality. While it may be premature to discuss an Arrow Lake update prior to the initial release, this development could impact Intel's roadmap and the "AI PC" market segment, as well as potentially affecting the release schedule of future architectures like Panther Lake.
