A product comes to the end of its life not only when the manufacturer stops producing it, but also when it ceases to support it. It is not usual for a processor to reach the end of life state in a little over a year. But that’s the way it is with Lakefield, although before we explain what happened, let’s quickly go over this CPU.
What is Intel Lakefield?
When Intel launched Lakefield last year, it was very clear that this was a very special processor and not the typical processor that Intel tends to launch. Manufactured according to Foveros technology, this 3DIC CPU is based on two vertically connected chips, on the one hand one of 10 nm for which are the CPU cores, the integrated GPU and the interface with the memory. On the other hand a 22 nm die where the I / O interfaces are located.
We can’t forget that Foveros will be used in future CPU and GPU designs from Intel itself, with Lakefield’s implementation being a test of the technology. Also, let’s not forget that this is the first Intel PC processor based on hybrid or different power cores. Concretely, it uses a Sunny Cove core associated with four Intel Atom type Tremont cores.
Despite its configuration, the CPU had associated controversy, especially due to the way Windows handles cores. Since these types of configurations are not common on the PC.
Lakefield is coming to the end of its life
Intel through a note reported that Lakefield has reached its end of life, or rather they put an expiration date on this Intel processor which must be more experimental than anything else. In this press release, Intel says that since July 6, the production dismantling process has started, which will be completely completed on October 22. The latest stock news will be on sale until April 29, 2022.
The explanation Intel gave to justify shutting down production is that demand from the market Lakefield was targeting turned to the company’s other processors. Also, let’s not forget that Intel is going to launch Alder Lake, which will be based on hybrid cores and it is possible that Intel will launch an equivalent to Lakefield based on Alder Lake, which would not justify the continuity of this processor.
En todo caso Lakefield weighs a las tecnologías that incorporated ha sido un fiasco comercial para Intel, dado que fue a parar a ordenadores de más de 2000 dollars pero con un rendimiento de un Netbook de 400. Por lo que su existencia se había convertido into a meaningless.
