Intel Meteor Lake isn’t expected to arrive until next year, but reports suggest we’ll have to wait even longer for the 14th gen best gaming CPU contender. The news follows rumours of mass production problems that apparently pushed the gaming PC chip’s release back, accompanied by whispers of product design and process verification issues.
According to Trendforce, Intel Meteor Lake CPU mass production was originally planned for the second half of 2022, but was postponed to early 2023 due to design and process verification issues. For reasons unknown, the 14th gen chip is now subject to additional delays, and the blue team has seemingly cancelled its 2023 TSMC N3 orders.
The Intel Meteor Lake rumour has already caught the company’s attention, as AnandTech EIC Ryan Smith says PRs have sent out a note to insist the chips will arrive in 2023. Of course, the tech giant’s troubles extend past the realm of CPUs, as we’re still waiting on more than one Intel Arc graphics card to release, not to mention the GPUs still haven’t made their way outside of China.
If you’re just an ordinary PC gamer, it’s arguably too early to worry about Meteor Lake, as Intel Raptor Lake is next on the company’s CPU agenda. However, if you’re an enthusiast trying to plan for future high-end builds, the processor’s production uncertainty might be a nuisance.
Intel Raptor Lake will potentially be more expensive than Alder Lake, but a 13th gen i9 CPU could become the fastest single-core chip. Naturally, this means Meteor Lake will have big shoes to fill once it eventually arrives, and it’ll need to be quick on the mark to challenge AMD Zen 4, as a Ryzen 7000 roadmap already outlines team red’s future gaming PC endeavours.