Intel Panther Lake is official, with the company having finally lifted the lid on its next generation of laptop and gaming handheld CPUs. Arriving as the new Intel Core Ultra 300 range, they span the breadth of performance from entry-level six-core models with basic integrated GPUs, all the way up to 16-core behemoths with record-breakingly powerful GPUs able to deliver reliable 1080p gaming performance.
As mobile chips, they're not ones you can buy yourself individually, but to prep you in your search for a new handheld or laptop, here's everything you need to know about the new Intel chips, and just why they could revolutionise our best gaming laptop and best gaming handheld guides.
Intel Core Ultra 300 Panther Lake models
The full range of Panther Lake CPUs is vast. Intel is dropping a whopping 14 different models for laptop, tablet, handheld, and other mobile and mini PC makers to incorporate into their wares. Top of the pile is the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H, which houses a 16-core CPU, includes the top-of-the-range 12-core Xe3 GPU, and runs at up to 5.1GHz. Meanwhile, right at the other other end of the specturm is the Intel Core Ultra 5 322, which has just six CPU cores, a 2-core Xe3 GPU, and tops out at 4.4GHz.
The full Intel Core Ultra 300 Panther Lake range is shown below:
| CPU | GPU | Power | ||||
| Model | Cores | P-Core max frequency | Brand | Xe-cores | TOPs | Max Turbo |
| Core Ultra X9 388H | 16 | 5.1GHz | Arc B390 or Arc Pro B390 | 12 | 122 | 65W or 80W |
| Core Ultra 9 386H | 16 | 4.9GHz | Intel Graphics | 4 | 40 | 65W or 80W |
| Core Ultra X7 368H | 16 | 5.0GHz | Arc B390 or Arc Pro B390 | 12 | 122 | 65W or 80W |
| Core Ultra 7 366H | 16 | 4.8GHz | Intel Graphics | 4 | 40 | 65W or 80W |
| Core Ultra 7 365 | 8 | 4.8GHz | Intel Graphics | 4 | 40 | 55W |
| Core Ultra X7 365H | 16 | 4.8GHz | Arc B390 | 12 | 122 | 65W or 80W |
| Core Ultra 7 365H | 16 | 4.7GHz | Intel Graphics | 4 | 40 | 65W or 80W |
| Core Ultra 7 365 | 8 | 4.7GHz | Intel Graphics | 4 | 40 | 55W |
| Core Ultra 5 338H | 12 | 4.7GHz | Arc B390 | 10 | 98 | 65W or 80W |
| Core Ultra 5 336H | 12 | 4.6GHz | Intel Graphics | 4 | 37 | 65W or 80W |
| Core Ultra 5 335 | 8 | 4.6GHz | Intel Graphics | 4 | 40 | 55W |
| Core Ultra 5 325 | 8 | 4.5GHz | Intel Graphics | 4 | 40 | 55W |
| Core Ultra 5 332 | 6 | 4.4GHz | Intel Graphics | 2 | 18 | 55W |
| Core Ultra 5 322 | 6 | 4.4GHz | Intel Graphics | 2 | 18 | 55W |
As you can see from the above, when it comes to grabbing a powerful Panther Lake CPU with a top-of-the-line integrated GPU, you'll want to keep your eye out for an X in the name. Only the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H, Intel Core Ultra X7 368H, and Intel Core Ultra X7 365H have the full 16-core GPU with 122 TOPs of graphics processing power.
However, you might want to keep an eye out for the Intel Core Ultra 5 338H, as this still has a 12-core, 98 TOPs GPU, which should be enough for 1080p gaming with graphics turned down to low.
Otherwise, all the other chips here will be suited to either standard non-gaming devices or for use in gaming laptops that use a second separate GPU, which most commonly will be one of Nvidia's RTX 5000 series chips.
Intel Core Ultra 300 Panther Lake Xe3 GPU
One of the most important features of the new Panther Lake range is that Intel has equipped a handful of the range (the X models) with a brand new, surprisingly powerful GPU for gaming. As we explored in this Intel Panther Lake benchmark story, the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H's 12-core GPU can hit 50fps in Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p with high detail settings, which is just about unheard of for a 'normal' laptop CPU.
Not only is this an impressive figure in and of itself, but it dwarfs the performance of AMD's current direct competition, its Ryzen AI 300 and AI 400 range. The GPU in the fastest of those chips, the AMD Ryzen AI 370 can only hit 28fps in the same Cyberpunk 2077 test. AMD does still have its Ryzen AI Max chips, which have an even more powerful GPU, but these have tended to be very expensive, and our tests show it only being slightly more powerful than Panther Lake.
As for what powers this speed, it's Intel's new Xe3 GPU architecture, which is its brand new design for Panther Lake that includes more powerful ray tracing cores and, actually, not too many other details that Intel has made public yet. Whatever the secret sauce, it certainly works.
What's more, Intel has developed its own AI-enhanced upscaling and multi-frame generation techniques to rival Nvidia DLSS and AMD FSR, and they seem to be very effective.
Intel Core Ultra 300 Panther Lake Xe3 manufacturing
A key aspect of Panther Lake is that Intel has designed a chip that uses several different small silicon chips all packaged together into a single larger chip. This has allowed the company to offer so many variations, including those options with the powerful GPUs, all while relying on the same core designs for each smaller silicon chip.
The constituent parts - the CPU die, the GPU die, the IO die, the NPU (for AI), and more - are packaged together and then connected by a whole other silicon chip layer underneath.
Along with this new modular layout system, the new chips also incorporate Intel's own latest chip manufacturing for some of the chip - the GPU and other parts are manufactured by TSMC. Called Intel 18A, this new process is used to make the CPU die of the chip and is Intel's first high-volume process to incorporate gate-all-around (GAA - known as RibbonFET by Intel) transistors and a backside power delivery network, which Intel calls PowerVia. Both these innovations are seen as being key to enabling future scaling and power efficiency gains.