Intel teases Rocket Lake-S and Alder Lake CPUs at CES

The Intel logo on a black background next to Intel components
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Intel previewed its new Rocket Lake-S and Alder Lake desktop processors at CES on Monday, along with a host of other product launches.

Intel's Rocket Lake-S flagship will arrive in the form of the Intel Core i9-11900K, an 11th-generation processor that features 19% 'gen-over-gen' instructions per cycle (IPC) improvements despite remaining on the Intel also claims the new 14nm chips will deliver a 50% gen-on-gen increase in integrated GPU gaming performance thanks to its new Xe graphics architecture,

The first Rocket Lake-S chips, including the Core i9-11900K, will be released in the first quarter of 2021, according to the firm.

There was also a demonstration of Intel's upcoming Alder Lake chips, which are due to be released in the second half of the year. These next-gen processors will be Intel's most power-scalable yet, according to the company, and represent a significant breakthrough in x86 architecture. Alder Lake CPUs will also be the first to be built on Intel's enhanced version of 10nm SuperFin.

The chip giant also unveiled the business-focused 11th-gen Intel vPro platform. This, the firm said, provides "the world's most comprehensive security" with silicon-enabled AI used for threat detection. It also uses Intel's 10nm SuperFin tech and comes with support Wi-Fi 6, which promises six times faster upload and download speeds.

The business-focused announcements didn't end there, with Intel confirming its intention to ramp up data centre chip production during the first quarter of 2021. What's more, a new generation of chipmaking technology will be a key part of the output.

"Only Intel has the breadth of products spanning multiple architectures; the large, open ecosystem; sheer scale of manufacturing footprint; and deep technical expertise customers need to unlock opportunities in this era of distributed intelligence," said Intel executive vice president Gregory Bryant.

"With an intense focus on execution for our core products and across our broader portfolio, we're introducing a series of leadership products at CES with more following throughout the year."

Intel is the biggest manufacturer of central processor chips for both PCs and data centre servers, but the company has struggled with delays caused by moving its current 10nm semiconductor process to a 7nm one. These delays have seen rival firm AMD quickly gain market share and move in on Intel business.

Worse still, AMD is set to announce its own releases later in the week, which could see Intel fall further behind.

Bobby Hellard

Bobby Hellard is ITPro's Reviews Editor and has worked on CloudPro and ChannelPro since 2018. In his time at ITPro, Bobby has covered stories for all the major technology companies, such as Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook, and regularly attends industry-leading events such as AWS Re:Invent and Google Cloud Next.

Bobby mainly covers hardware reviews, but you will also recognise him as the face of many of our video reviews of laptops and smartphones.