Intel's next-gen Nova Lake chips may skip bLLC for mobile SKUs and debut on Razor Lake-HX instead, leaker claims — new rumor says Razor Lake family reportedly uses TSMC's N2X node

Rumor has it that Intel's upcoming next-gen Nova Lake CPUs will not include the bLLC (Big Last Level Cache) feature in their mobile SKUs, opting to debut it on the Razor Lake family instead. This information was provided by a tipster named Jaykihn. bLLC is Intel's response to AMD's 3D V-Cache technology, which has been highly successful in the gaming market.

The report suggests that bLLC will only make its mobile debut with the Razor Lake generation. Higher-end Nova Lake desktop processors may feature bLLC, with a single NVL-S tile reportedly housing 144MB of bLLC. If dual-tile variants are used, cache capacity could increase to 288MB. Laptops and handheld devices, on the other hand, may rely on the native L3 cache provided by the NVL-HX chip.

AMD's Ryzen 9 7945HX3D and Ryzen 9 9995HX3D laptops introduced 3D V-Cache to laptops back in 2023, but all other AMD gaming chips have had this extra cache exclusively on desktops. Intel's Halo Tier competitor, rumored to debut with the Razor Lake family, is also expected to include bLLC. Earlier this year, rumors suggested Intel was working on Nova Lake-AX for the APU market but later canceled the project.

Intel is now reportedly switching to Razor Lake for the AX category. Jaykihn also claimed that Razor Lake will be manufactured on TSMC's N2X node across mobile and desktop platforms. It remains unclear whether Nova Lake will use Intel's in-house 18A process or TSMC's N2P process. However, recent claims suggest Intel is confident in its own 18A technology for most Nova Lake tiles.

TSMC's N2X process technology is expected to be used for Razor Lake, as per the company's fabrication roadmap announced earlier this year. The Cowley Cove P-cores and Arctic Wolf E-cores will be the same for both Nova Lake and Razor Lake generations, while the following Titan Lake generation is rumored to unify the two.