Intel Core Ultra Series 2 (Lunar Lake NPU 48 TOPS)
Overview
Intel Core Ultra Series 2 (codenamed Lunar Lake / LNL) is Intel's second-generation AI PC mobile SoC, announced 2024-09-03 and available 2024-09-24. It features Foveros 3D packaging (Compute Tile + Platform Controller Tile dual-die), TSMC N3B + N6 process. 4 P-cores (Lion Cove) + 4 E-cores (Skymont) @ 5.0 GHz, Intel Arc 130V/140V GPU (Xe2 architecture) (>60 TOPS compute), NPU 4.0 48 TOPS (4x Meteor Lake's 11 TOPS), 16/32 GB LPDDR5X on-package (eliminating memory trace latency). Models include Core Ultra 7 258V / 268V, Core Ultra 9 288V. The world's first x86 chip to meet Microsoft Copilot+ PC standards (40+ TOPS NPU).
Core Specifications
| Item | Spec |
|---|---|
| Architecture | Foveros 3D Package (Compute Tile + Platform Controller Tile) |
| Process | TSMC N3B (Compute Tile) + TSMC N6 (Platform Controller Tile) |
| CPU Cores | 8 (4P Lion Cove + 4E Skymont) |
| CPU Frequency | 5.0 GHz P / 3.7 GHz E (Core Ultra 7 268V) |
| L2 Cache | 12 MB |
| L3 Cache | 8-12 MB (model dependent) |
| GPU Architecture | Intel Arc 130V / 140V (Xe2) |
| GPU Compute | > 60 TOPS (Xe2, 3.5x Meteor Lake) |
| NPU | NPU 4.0, 48 TOPS INT8 (3x Meteor Lake 11 TOPS) |
| Total AI Compute | > 120 TOPS (NPU 48 + GPU 60 + CPU compute) |
| Memory | 16/32 GB LPDDR5X on-package (co-packaged with SoC, 8533 MT/s) |
| Memory Bandwidth | ~136 GB/s (128-bit, 8533 MT/s) |
| PCIe | 4x PCIe Gen 5 + 4x PCIe Gen 4 |
| TDP | 17W / 28W / 37W (flexible cTDP) |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 7 (BE201) |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.4 |
| Launch SKUs | Core Ultra 5 226V / 228V / 236V / 238V, Core Ultra 7 256V / 258V / 266V / 268V, Core Ultra 9 288V |
| Launch Date | Announced 2024-09-03, available 2024-09-24 |
| Core Ultra 7 258V Price | ~$499 (OEM notebook reference) |
vs Meteor Lake (Core Ultra Series 1)
| Metric | Lunar Lake (Series 2) | Meteor Lake (Series 1) | Improvement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Process | N3B + N6 | Intel 4 + TSMC N5/N6 | 3rd-gen 3nm |
| CPU Cores | 4P Lion Cove + 4E Skymont | 6P Meteor Lake + 8E | Different microarchitecture |
| P-core IPC | +14% vs Redwood Cove | Baseline | Significant |
| E-core IPC | +38% vs Crestmont | Baseline | Significant |
| GPU | Xe2 | Xe-LPG | New generation |
| GPU TOPS | >60 | ~17 | 3.5x |
| NPU | NPU 4.0 48 TOPS | NPU 3.0 11 TOPS | 4x |
| Memory | LPDDR5X on-package | LPDDR5X discrete | On-package reduces latency |
| AI PC Certification | Copilot+ PC | Standard AI PC | Flagship |
| Battery Life | Estimated 40% improvement | Baseline | Significant |
| Threads | 8 (4P+4E) | 22 (6P+8E+LP-E) | Reduced |
AI PC Performance
| Model / Task | NPU 4.0 (48 TOPS) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Phi-3 3.8B (Q4) | Real-time conversation | Copilot+ local LLM |
| Llama 3 8B (Q4) | ~12 tok/s | ONNX DirectML |
| Stable Diffusion XL | 1.5 it/s | Image generation |
| Whisper Large V3 | 5x real-time | Speech transcription |
| Windows Copilot Recall | Real-time | Historical recall |
| Live Captions real-time translation | Real-time | 100+ languages |
| Windows Studio Effects | Real-time | Background blur, eye contact |
| Cocreator (Paint) | Real-time | Sketch to image |
Copilot+ PC Certification: Core Ultra Series 2 is among the world's first x86 chips certified for Microsoft Copilot+ PC standards (requiring NPU >= 40 TOPS, memory >= 16 GB, storage >= 256 GB), unlocking exclusive AI features such as Recall (historical recall), Live Captions (real-time translation), and Cocreator (sketch to image).
Use Cases
- Copilot+ PC notebooks (Surface Pro 11, Surface Laptop 7, Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i, HP OmniBook Ultra, ASUS Zenbook S 14)
- Local LLM inference (Phi-3 3.8B, Llama 3 8B quantized)
- AI-enhanced video conferencing (Windows Studio Effects: background blur, eye contact, auto-framing)
- Creative work (Adobe Lightroom AI denoise, Premiere Pro AI auto-editing)
- Gaming laptops (Xe2 GPU 60+ TOPS + XeSS 2 frame generation)
- Enterprise office (20+ hour battery, AI security detection)
- Education/Student (Copilot learning assistant)
Vendor Information
| Item | Info |
|---|---|
| Vendor | Intel Corporation (Santa Clara, USA) |
| Fab | TSMC Taiwan (N3B Compute Tile + N6 Platform Controller Tile) |
| Packaging | Intel Foveros 3D (proprietary advanced packaging, Oregon fab) |
| Software Stack | Windows 11 24H2 (Copilot+ PC), Linux (Ubuntu 24.04, Fedora 40) |
| AI Frameworks | OpenVINO, ONNX Runtime, DirectML, Windows ML |
| OEM Customers | Microsoft Surface, Dell XPS 13, Lenovo Yoga, HP OmniBook, ASUS Zenbook, Samsung Galaxy Book |
| Launch Price | Core Ultra 7 258V notebook $1,099-$1,499 |
| Competitors | AMD Ryzen AI 300 (Strix Point / Strix Halo), Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite |
Key Features
- Foveros 3D packaging (Compute Tile + Platform Controller Tile heterogeneous integration)
- TSMC N3B Compute Tile (3rd-gen 3nm)
- 4P Lion Cove + 4E Skymont (P-core IPC +14%, E-core IPC +38%)
- NPU 4.0 48 TOPS (3x Meteor Lake)
- Intel Arc Xe2 GPU (>60 TOPS, 3.5x Meteor Lake)
- Total AI compute 120+ TOPS (NPU + GPU + CPU combined)
- LPDDR5X on-package (8533 MT/s, 16/32 GB)
- Copilot+ PC certified (Recall, Live Captions, Cocreator)
- Wi-Fi 7 + Bluetooth 5.4
- 4x PCIe Gen 5 + 4x PCIe Gen 4
- Improved Thread Director (smarter P/E/LP-E scheduling)
- 17W / 28W / 37W cTDP flexible configuration
Related Cards
- Intel Gaudi 3 (Data Center Training) — Data center
- Intel Gaudi 4 (Data Center Training Rumored) — Data center successor
- AMD Ryzen AI Max (Strix Halo / XDNA 2) — Same-gen AI PC competitor
- NVIDIA RTX 5090 (Consumer GPU) — Desktop GPU
- Apple M4 Pro (64GB UMA) — Apple Silicon competitor
- Qualcomm AI 200 / 300 (Cloud AI) — Competitor
- Architecture: APU Accelerated Processing — APU architecture
- Intel Core Ultra Official Page