Intel is pulling the plug on the Kaby Lake-H platform, but with the promise that work on Kaby Lake-R will continue as before. Apparently, the move was taken because of a lack of demand for KBL-H which was originally supposed to be Intel’s new four-core, GT2e graphics, 18W platform.
The info was revealed by a leak covered by Benchlife.info that also claims about Intel’s plans over the next couple of years. If we are to take the leak on its face value, it seems the 10nm Coffee Lake architecture is still on track for its planned 2018 launch (along with all its sub-platforms).
An official communique from the chip giant to channel partners clearly mentioned that it was shifting the focus from Kaby Lake-H to Kaby Lake-R as the former was basically the same as the typical 14nm process that has been around right since the introduction of Broadwell. Moreover, with the arrival of the RYZEN, it has become a critical period for Intel if the company wants to retain and bolster its market position.
Worth noting, the Coffee Lake platform will be the first one in Intel’s history to feature a six-core mainstream market.
Meanwhile, as you know, there have been quite a few unconfirmed reports off late about the 10nm process running into trouble. However, with this revelation, it becomes apparent that while certain production issues might be there, they are certainly not large enough to cause a significant delay.
On the other hand, if yields issues are indeed as severe as we had reported earlier, we will probably get to see Kaby Lake-R lasting longer than previously anticipated. (Kaby Lake happens to be Intel’s seventh-generation of processors of that particular iteration of x86 whereas Coffee Lake is going to be the eighth-generation.)